brassiere
Americannoun
-
brassieres
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of brassiere
1910–15; < French brassière bodice worn as an undergarment to support the breasts (now obsolete in this sense), Middle French bracieres camisole, Old French: armor for the arms, equivalent to bras arm ( see brace) + -ière, suffix added to body part nouns, the resultant derivative denoting an article for that part < Latin -āria -ary
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:
The film’s laughs come from empathy, not derision, when a brassiere saleswoman tut-tuts that Margaret is “not even a 32A.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2023
Only when DNA technology advanced to the point where a complete genetic profile could be developed from evidence gleaned from the girl’s brassiere could a solid link be made, Detective Leah Wagner said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2020
When Moorman cradled Paik’s “TV Cello” against her bare skin, or when she donned a 60-pound brassiere made of two small televisions, musician and artist were definitely not buying into technology wholesale.
From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2019
The US actress and singer, now 83, also patented a brassiere with hidden straps.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2017
I’ve gotten so thin, I’ve had to take in the waistbands of all my panties and stuff the cups of my brassiere with handkerchiefs.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
With ceremony, Margaret calls the date she’s going with her mother to buy her first brassieres “Bra Day.”
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2019
The exhibition traces the history of brassieres, from their development as "bust supporters" in the 1860s through their wide adoption in the early 20th century to the introduction of Lycra in the late 1950s.
From US News ● Apr. 13, 2016
And before turning to e-cigarettes in 2006, the founders of First Union made silica gel brassieres and weight loss belts.
From New York Times ● Dec. 13, 2014
But brassieres aren’t designed for us—they get loose.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 21, 2013
In the spring of 1959, when discussions of my fertilization got under way, my mother couldn’t foresee that women would soon be burning their brassieres by the thousand.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
