sundress

American  

[suhn-dres] / ˈsʌnˌdrɛs /

noun

1. a dress with a bodice styled to expose the arms, shoulders, and back, for wear during hot weather.

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sundress British  

/ ˈsʌnˌdrɛs /

noun

1. a dress for hot weather that exposes the shoulders, arms, and back, esp one with straps over the shoulders

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Etymology

Origin of sundress

First recorded in 1940–45; sun + dress

Example Sentences

It’s an unusually hot September day and Byrne is dressed in a blue-and-white sundress with pink sandals.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025

Every spring, I get the urge to buy something new: a sundress, a pretty blouse or something hopeful after a long, drab winter.

From Salon • Apr. 25, 2025

“I bought three new pairs of jeans. I wore a sundress for the first time in a decade,” she says.

From Scientific American • Oct. 16, 2023

On this afternoon, costumed only as herself, she had arrived in a swirl of muted earth tones — brown sandals, brown-and-blue sundress, blue straw hat, gold hoops.

From New York Times • Aug. 23, 2022

One old woman, in a gauzy sundress, sits in a camp chair next to one young one, in a sundress splashed with sunflowers.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti