Third-person singular present tense: to make something more attractive by adding decorative details, or to make a story more interesting by adding extra details (sometimes untrue ones).
From Old French embellir, third-person singular conjugation in modern English. The verb form has been in use since the 14th century with both literal (decoration) and figurative (storytelling) meanings.
The double meaning of 'embellish'—both 'to decorate beautifully' and 'to lie a little'—exists in many languages, suggesting that humans have always understood that making things prettier and exaggerating are suspiciously similar activities.
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