zoot suit

American  

[zoot] / zut /

noun

1. a man's suit with baggy, tight-cuffed, sometimes high-waisted trousers and an oversized jacket with exaggeratedly broad, padded shoulders and wide lapels, often worn with suspenders and a long watch chain and first popularized in the early 1940s.

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zoot suit British  

/ zuːt /

noun

1. slang a man's suit consisting of baggy trousers with very tapered bottoms and a long jacket with wide padded shoulders, popular esp in the US in the 1940s

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• zoot-suiter
  noun

Etymology

Origin of zoot suit

1940–45, rhyming compound based on suit

Example Sentences

Decked out in a resplendent orange-and-blue-striped zoot suit symbolizing the colors of his beloved New York Knicks, Spike Lee hit the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet in May in full boogie mode.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 2025

Elsewhere, we check in on how a freshly liberated Mitch McConnell is putting on his zoot suit and spats and living it up a little.

From Slate • Apr. 27, 2024

Over the decades, the zoot suit itself has made regular reappearances.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2023

His character dresses in a flamboyant zoot suit — complete with feathered hat — and uses slang drawn from caló.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2023

The one thing still missing from my fresh ensemble is a zoot suit.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz