dolling up

verb

present participle of doll up
1
as in decorating
to make more attractive by adding something that is beautiful or becoming if you were to doll up those Shaker-style rooms, you'd ruin their simple elegance

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dressing
to put on one's best or formal clothes got all dolled up for the party

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dolling up
  1. decorating
  2. dressing
  3. adorning
  4. dressing up
  5. doing up
Verb
  • The same phenomenon applies to minimalist interiors in independent coffee shops, all-neutral home decorating schemes and the uniformity of facial features and bodies on screen.
    — Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Think portable instead of permanent Some of the most useful renter-friendly ideas aren’t about decorating at all.
    — Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of decorating
Verb
  • The pieces read as clothes rather than kit, which Splits59 says is the entire trick of dressing well in a transitional season.
    — Zoë Mackay, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Dress the green and red baby gem lettuce with enough Caesar dressing to coat lightly.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of dressing
Verb
  • Tourism picks up Whether arriving from within Chile or overseas, tourists are venturing into the remote, inhospitable areas of the Atacama to admire the millions of flowers adorning vast areas of the desert, stretching from the coast to the horizon.
    — Nayara Batschke, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Growing up thousands of miles away from the Hollywood sign in Bratislava, Slovakia, ADÉLA spent her childhood studying American pop stars and had posters of Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande and Britney Spears adorning her bedroom walls.
    — Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of adorning
Verb
  • The region’s poppies played a starring role in the new collection, dressing up Santoni’s relaxed Papavero suede loafer.
    — Katie Abel, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026
  • But dressing up your home for fall doesn’t require a designer budget, and Costco is one of the best places to prove it.
    — Danielle Bouchard, Martha Stewart, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of dressing up
Verb
  • What in the world are those overgrown basketballs doing up there?
    — Rui Bo, The Conversation, 18 May 2026
  • Wednesday’s practice started with some of the players doing up-downs after forgetting equipment.
    — Anthony Solorzano, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Definition of doing up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

dollies
dolling up
dollish
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Cite this Entry

“Dolling up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dolling%20up. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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