to gild the lily
2
8.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
embellecer innecesariamente
- By adding unnecessary details to his speech, he simply gilded the lily.
- just gild the lily
Examples
-
In order to keep their new granddaughter from harm, she and Walter were going to have to do a lot of fancy lying; it was going to require more than just gilding the lily, and she understood that life had to be that way.
Fiction book (1992) -
You think I gilded the lily a little?
-
Let's not gild the lily and push it too hard, you know?
-
That's just gilding the lily.
-
You've succeeded in gilding the lily.
-
Dude, don't... don't, don't gild the lily, okay?
-
If you add too much color to that painting, you will only gild the lily.
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They decided not to gild the lily and left the garden as it was, beautiful in its simplicity.
Synonyms
226
1.9
To make something look nicer by adding paint, ornaments, or other items
45
4.9
To put decorations on something to make it look more beautiful
10
6.3
To make something more beautiful by adding decorative details
9
3.2
To make a place or person more attractive by adding decorations like paint
8
8.7
Make something or someone look fancier by adding decorations
4
3.7
To add decorations to something to make it look nicer
4
7.8
To put fancy decorations like flowers or lights on something to make it look special
1
5.0
Make something look more attractive, often only on the surface
To add decoration that is not needed to something already beautiful
To add too many details and ruin something
To add extra features or rules that make something costly and difficult
To add small not needed decorations to clothes or events to make them seem fancier
Make something look more expensive by adding nicer things
Make something look more attractive by adding decorations
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal senses — 'gild' (to apply decorative gold) and 'lily' (an ornamental flower) — clearly suggest decorating something already attractive, so a learner who knows the constituents can often infer the idea of adding ornamentation. However, the evaluative nuance that this is unnecessary/excessive and the idiomatic, somewhat literary framing are not fully predictable without prior exposure, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Gild the lily comes from the picture of someone covering a perfect lily with gold because gild means 'to cover with gold'. So it means 'to add unnecessary decoration or improvement to something already perfect'.