adorner

Adorner is an old literary word meaning to adorn or decorate — modern French replaced it with the shorter orner centuries ago, so a learner will only meet adorner in older texts or deliberately archaic writing.

• Les vitraux adornaient jadis la façade de l'église. — Stained-glass windows once adorned the church's facade.
• Ce style ancien adorne le texte de tournures désuètes. — This old-fashioned style adorns the text with outdated turns of phrase.
• On adornait les statues de guirlandes lors des fêtes. — Statues used to be adorned with garlands during festivals.

Learners should use orner in modern French — adorner survives only as a historical/literary variant, and using it in ordinary conversation would sound deliberately old-fashioned, not just formal.

Often confused with orner.