Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Without adornment or embellishment; simple or plain.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not admired; not regarded with affection or respect; not admirable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having no additional decoration or embellishment; plain and simple

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not decorated with something to increase its beauty or distinction

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ adorned

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Examples

  • Though trained as a chemist, he is considered an excellent theologian, and he is legendary for his simple and self-denying way of life: he lives in unadorned rooms near the cathedral in Buenos Aires and takes the bus to his appointments.

    The Year of two Popes 2006

  • Though trained as a chemist, he is considered an excellent theologian, and he is legendary for his simple and self-denying way of life: he lives in unadorned rooms near the cathedral in Buenos Aires and takes the bus to his appointments.

    The Year of two Popes 2006

  • She referred to an unadorned rectangular stone of some porous rock, perhaps two meters wide and three long, strangely scarred in places.

    Dwellers in the Crucible Margaret Wander Bonanno 1990

  • The thought is simple and even obvious, and the expression unadorned, and yet what he said had that subtle quality which stirred and still stirs the heart of every man born on the soil of the old Puritan Commonwealth.

    Daniel Webster Henry Cabot Lodge 1887

  • The thought is simple and even obvious, and the expression unadorned, and yet what he said had that subtle quality which stirred and still stirs the heart of every man born on the soil of the old Puritan Commonwealth.

    Daniel Webster Lodge, Henry Cabot 1883

  • Benioff has down pat the art of writing the kind of unadorned, direct prose that buoys a story along.

    City of Thieves: Summary and book reviews of City of Thieves by David Benioff. 2008

  • We sat for a minute and a man, clothed in the same kind of unadorned tunic the woman and we were wearing, walked across the stage with a stack of thick notebooks under each arm.

    The Forever War Haldeman, Joe 1975

  • We sat for a minute and a man, clothed in the same kind of unadorned tunic the woman and we were wearing, walked across the stage with a stack of thick notebooks under each arm.

    The Forever War Haldeman, Joe 1975

  • The images show her bundled up, drinking a coffee and ringless (or "unadorned," per ET).

    E! Online (US) - Top Stories 2010

  • The images show her bundled up, drinking a coffee and ringless (or "unadorned," per ET).

    E! Online (US) - Top Stories 2010

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