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titivate

/ˌtɪdəˈveɪt/
IPA guide

Other forms: titivating; titivated

Titivate means to spiff up or tidy up. When you’re getting dressed for the prom, you might fuss with your hair and your dress and generally titivate yourself until you’re ready to step out and make your grand entry.

You can titivate your makeup or your room or you can titivate yourself — all of it in the pursuit of making something more attractive and neat. Titivate can also mean to make small alterations to something. You might titivate your new coat by adding cute buttons and ribbons to it. Titivate, which is not a very commonly used word, may have originated from the word tidy, formed on the pattern of words like cultivate.

Definitions of titivate
  1. verb
    make neat, smart, or trim
    titivate the child”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    beautify, embellish, fancify, prettify
    make more beautiful
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