Aureate

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɔːɹiːət/

Definitions

1. Having or covered with gold; marked by an ornate, flowery, or excessively elaborate literary style
2. Adorned with or resembling gold in color or appearance, or characterized by elaborate and ornamental language
3. Decorated with golden hue or substance, or featuring excessively ornate and flowery prose

Etymology: Chaucer's contemporaries and later English poets prized this word for its gleam, but it began life as a plain description of metalwork. Its Latin source, "aureatus," meant "adorned or decorated with gold," built from "aureus," golden or gilded, and the adjective-forming suffix "-ate." English borrowed the Latin form directly, so the word carries its original sense of something gilded or golden on its surface. From that literal meaning the word drifted into literary criticism. A passage described as aureate is one crowded with rich, glittering imagery and decorative diction, the verbal equivalent of a gold-leafed altarpiece. The sense of excess came with it: a poem can be aureate in the same way a room can be overgilded, impressive at first glance and heavy on closer reading.

Synonyms: golden, gilded

Antonyms: dull, plain