In the sentence 'The chef garnished the dish with fresh herbs,' GARNISHED most nearly means:

GARNISHED means decorated or embellished, especially food. Context clue: 'with fresh herbs' suggests adding something for decoration or flavor enhancement. From Old French 'garnir' (to provide or equip). Example: 'The plate was garnished with parsley and lemon.' Synonyms: decorate, adorn, embellish, ornament. Note: 'garnish' has a second, completely different meaning in legal/financial contexts — to garnish wages means to legally seize part of someone's pay to satisfy a debt. This is GARNISHMENT. Context is essential to choose the right meaning. ASVAB tip: when a word has multiple meanings, use the sentence context to determine which applies. Other words with multiple meanings: BANK (financial institution OR side of a river); BARK (sound a dog makes OR outer covering of a tree); LIGHT (illumination OR not heavy); SPRING (season OR a coiled metal device OR a water source OR to leap).