Synonyms:
cosmetic, decorative, ornamental
Meaning: serving an esthetic rather than a useful purpose; "cosmetic fenders on cars"; "the buildings were utilitarian rather than decorative"
Usage examples
If they took up less room than the women they certainly were more decorative.
The plain paper or buckram covers of a good publisher are, in fact, more decorative, because more artistic, than showy tree-calf or "antique morocco."
There is no doubt that this is not only the most practical, but the most decorative, way of housing any collection of books large enough to be so employed.
Looking at the catalogue of a leading Dahlia nursery, I find that the decorative kinds fill ten pages, while the show kinds, including Pompones, fill only three.
Convenience was not sacrificed to beauty in either desk or chair; but both the old pieces, being designed by skilled cabinet-makers, were as decorative as they were useful.
The same principle applies to the library itself: plain shelves filled with good editions in good bindings are more truly decorative than ornate bookcases lined with tawdry books.
To be decorative, a bookcase need not contain the productions of the master-binders,--old volumes by Eve and Derome, or the work of Roger Payne and Sanderson,--unsurpassed as they are in color-value.
While Louis had renounced his art, and devoted himself to journalism, unpaid public work and starvation, that he might so throw himself the more directly into the Socialist battle, Anthony had remained an artist, mainly employed as before in decorative design.
Those who desire to become artists, can greatly facilitate their work, if beginning for example with very simple outline decorative designs, and having learned the principles on which they are constructed, they would repeat or revise them to themselves before sleep, resolving to remember them.