costume
Americannoun
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costumes
plural
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a style of dress, including accessories and hairdos, especially that peculiar to a nation, region, group, or historical period.
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dress or garb characteristic of another period, place, person, etc., as worn on the stage or at balls.
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fashion of dress appropriate to a particular occasion or season.
dancing costume; winter costume.
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a set of garments, especially women's garments, selected for wear at a single time; outfit; ensemble.
verb (used with object)
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costumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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costumed,
past participle, past
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costuming
present participle
adjective
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of or characterized by the wearing of costumes.
a costume party.
-
meant for use with or appropriate to a specific costume.
costume accessories.
noun
-
a complete style of dressing, including all the clothes, accessories, etc, worn at one time, as in a particular country or period; dress
national costume
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old-fashioned a woman's suit
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a set of clothes, esp unusual or period clothes, worn in a play by an actor or at a fancy dress ball
a jester's costume
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short for swimming costume
verb
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to furnish the costumes for (a show, film, etc)
-
to dress (someone) in a costume
Synonym Usage
See dress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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costumesimple
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costumessimple
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have costumedperfect
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has costumedperfect
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am costumingprogressive
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are costumingprogressive
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is costumingprogressive
-
have been costumingperfect progressive
-
has been costumingperfect progressive
Past
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costumedsimple
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had costumedperfect
-
was costumingprogressive
-
were costumingprogressive
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had been costumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of costume
1705–15; < French < Italian: usage, habit, dress; doublet of custom
Explanation
A costume is a set of clothes you wear when you want to dress up like another person. You might wear a witch's costume to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, or put on a George Washington costume to reenact a scene from the American Revolution in a play. A costume is a set of clothes that is unique to a particular person or time period. If you were starring as Dorothy in your neighborhood production of The Wizard of Oz, your costume would consist of a blue-and-white checkered dress and ruby slippers. On the other hand, if you were starring as Lady Godiva, you wouldn't need much of a costume at all!
Vocabulary lists containing costume
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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October Words
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Reading: Literature - Drama - Introductory
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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:
It took about four hours for her to get into the costume.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
It borrows medicine’s costume without the people and safeguards that make medicine work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Ethnographer Imre Romsics said paprika became an important symbol of Hungarian identity during the 19th century, "alongside costume, folk art and other traditions".
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
“But the people who don’t get paid are those construction workers, the caterers, the costume designers and the makeup artists. Those folks ... they don’t get paid unless it’s done here at home.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
She had spent weeks preparing herself to do this with Anat, to film this specific costume, the last one Molly ever wore onstage.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Harvir Dhillon, lead economist at the British Retail Consortium, said at this time of year "retailers will be competing hard" as they see "greater demand for sweets and chocolate, as well as decorations and costumes".
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The archive also keeps costumes made using the Globe's "original practices" approach, which aims to recreate how plays were staged in Shakespeare's time.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Kullberg uses props and costumes and plays all the roles in her videos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
The actors will soon slip into their 1967 costumes as the impoverished Greasers and the privileged Socs — and spend the next two hours hating each other onstage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The two ships also carried theatrical scripts, scores of costumes, and huge quantities of makeup so that plays could be staged for the crew’s enjoyment.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
For this year’s Wondaween, a free 21+ costumed fan event, where the theme is Creature Carnival, Monáe says she expects to see people clad in everything from insect garb to Frankenstein.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
The Jive Bunny album covers and music videos featured a cartoon rabbit, with costumed actors also making promotional appearances as the character.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
His signature victory was a record-setting blister up Alpe d’Huez in which he roared through costumed, enthusiastic revelers on his way to a fifth stage win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Given the group’s commitment to costumed stage personas, the mixed sexuality of their members, and their name, the Village People came to represent the confluence of masculinity and queerness.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
All three Incorrigibles were costumed in the style of ancient Rome.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
“The scene works because the sound, set, lighting, costuming and choreography all have to work.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
This isn’t the kind of film that gets Oscar nominations, but Arianne Phillips and Monica Chamberlain’s bonkers costuming, all candy colors and asymmetrical shapes, deserves recognition, or at least awe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
They didn’t get to figure out staging, costuming and what made a good Beatle setlist.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
Bretaña says method dressing tends to work best with sci-fi or fantasy projects because of the inherent drama in their costuming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
What Lana had seen of the act so far was not promising, but Darlene said that the costuming would transform the performance into a thing of beauty.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
