gown
Americannoun
-
gowns
plural
-
a woman's dress or robe, especially one that is full-length.
- Synonyms:
- frock
-
a loose, flowing outer garment in any of various forms, worn by a man or woman as distinctive of office, profession, or status.
an academic gown.
-
the student and teaching body in a university or college town.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
any of various outer garments, such as a woman's elegant or formal dress, a dressing robe, or a protective garment, esp one worn by surgeons during operations
-
a loose wide garment indicating status, such as worn by academics
-
the members of a university as opposed to the other residents of the university town Compare town
verb
Synonym Usage
See dress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gown
1300–50; Middle English goune < Old French < Late Latin gunna fur or leather garment
Explanation
A gown is a formal dress. When your date to a party or dance is wearing a tuxedo, you'll probably want to wear a gown. There are many different kinds of gowns, including ball gowns, wedding gowns, and evening gowns. All of them are worn primarily by women on formal occasions. It was once common to call any one-piece woman's garment a gown, while now it's more often called a dress. The source of gown is the Old French goune, "robe, coat, or down," with the Latin root gunna, "hide or skin."
Vocabulary lists containing gown
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A caregiver wore a protective gown and gloves as she bottle-fed a baby -- one of hundreds of children orphaned by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Both were broke, and she told the Charlotte Observer she had to borrow a wedding gown when they married in 1988.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The 30-year-old curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario had been scrutinizing a portrait of a young Black woman bedecked in jewels and wearing a shimmering blue gown with pearls around her neck and wrists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Rather than shipping the gown off for professional storage, Zendaya reportedly hopes to create a dedicated space for it inside one of the couple’s own properties.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
He's wearing goggles, a gown, and rubber gloves.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
Elizabeth Debicki plays the queen bee, a bully born into high status as the doctor’s daughter, whose icy lavender gowns contrast crisply against Colman’s hand-knitted rags.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
We were surprised to find gorgeous gowns under $2,000 at Anthropologie, for example.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
As early as 1913 she was designing heart-stopping gowns for their movies, which in turn brought renown to her fashion house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Of course, there were gowns that the A-list Hollywood talent could easily wear to red carpet events.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Every speck of anything that might become a wedding memory, she tosses in there—stuff like jewelry designs and invitation ideas and flower arrangement choices and photos of gowns.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
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