jacket
Americannoun
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jackets
plural
-
a short coat, in any of various forms, usually opening down the front.
-
something designed to be placed around the upper part of the body for a specific purpose other than use as clothing.
a life jacket.
-
a protective outer covering.
-
the skin of a potato, especially when it has been cooked.
-
the cover of a paperbound book, usually bearing an illustration.
-
a paper or cardboard envelope for protecting a phonograph record.
-
a metal casing, as the steel covering of a cannon, the steel cover around the core of a bullet, or the water jacket on certain types of machine guns.
-
a folded paper or open envelope containing an official document.
verb (used with object)
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jackets,
present (3rd person singular)
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jacketed,
past participle, past
-
jacketing
present participle
noun
-
a short coat, esp one that is hip-length and has a front opening and sleeves
-
something that resembles this or is designed to be worn around the upper part of the body
a life jacket
-
any exterior covering or casing, such as the insulating cover of a boiler
-
the part of the cylinder block of an internal-combustion engine that encloses the coolant
-
See dust jacket
-
-
the skin of a baked potato
-
( as modifier )
jacket potatoes
-
-
a metal casing used in certain types of ammunition
-
Brit name: sleeve. a cover to protect a gramophone record
-
a folder or envelope to hold documents
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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underjacketnoun
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jacket-likeadjective
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jacketedadjective
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jacketlessadjective
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jacketlikeadjective
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unjacketedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jacketsimple
-
jacketssimple
-
have jacketedperfect
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has jacketedperfect
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am jacketingprogressive
-
are jacketingprogressive
-
is jacketingprogressive
-
have been jacketingperfect progressive
-
has been jacketingperfect progressive
Past
-
jacketedsimple
-
had jacketedperfect
-
was jacketingprogressive
-
were jacketingprogressive
-
had been jacketingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jacket
1425–75; late Middle English jaket < Middle French ja ( c ) quet, equivalent to jaque jack 4 + -et -et
Explanation
A jacket is a lightweight or cropped coat. Most jackets end at your waist or hips, while coats can be much longer. If you have outerwear made of denim or leather, feel free to call them jackets. Jackets are generally long-sleeved and fasten with zippers, snaps, or buttons down the front. Other meanings of jacket generally include the sense of "outer covering," like a book jacket or the insulating jacket around your house's pipes. The word comes from the Middle French jaquet, "short coat with sleeves," from the Old French jacque, "tunic."
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:
Dressed in a ball cap, jeans and a Carhartt jacket, he quipped to one attendee that he was going as “the real Dan” for Halloween.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
One of those who had come to hear him speak was David, a smartly dressed man in a freshly-pressed shirt and navy jacket, who said he had met Eisenkot before.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
“You’re not going to one-for-one sub in a guy that’s going to be wearing a gold jacket one day, in Davante,” Stafford said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
Ilija Srdanović appears an unlikely opponent for Serbia's long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić, arriving for an interview by motorbike sporting a fluorescent yellow jacket emblazoned with pro-student slogans.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
If everything went right, I’d be getting a new one tomorrow, red instead of green, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to keep my cadet jacket nice.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Columbia Sportswear is giving away a 40-foot “survival bunker” stocked with puffer jackets, hiking shoes, jars of food, and a robotic dog.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
She favours low fuss, low-key work jackets, flannel shirts, jeans and practical footwear.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
It’s time to grab those jackets and pull out the umbrellas because cooler temperatures and a chance of rain is on tap for Southern California by the middle of this week, forecasters say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
Video footage apparently taken by a member of the public and posted to X showed several agents wearing HSI jackets outside Omar's Washington residence.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
The men at the concession stands scurry behind their counters, making final adjustments to their wares and straightening their jackets and caps.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
"Everyone who was sort of leather jacketed, leaning against the wall, too cool to dance, started dancing," recalls Pierson.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
Crossing a room, the jacketed general manager paused to hold a wine glass up to a light, making sure it was clean.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2023
Shooting a 160-grain jacketed bullet at almost 2,000 feet per second, it was a speed demon at the time.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 14, 2020
The narrow two-story bar, jacketed in reclaimed fence boards and local art, became a hangout for the city’s artists, musicians and writers, as well as waiters, bartenders and baristas.
From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2020
Surprised, Peanut hesitated, then broke for his basket, not noticing that Ben trailed him and not noticing that a flight jacketed figure trailed Ben on the sidelines.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The students have been asked to design a new fabric to be used for menswear sport jacketing.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2023
Book jackets so seldom reflect the nature of what they are jacketing that Philippe Halsman's photo for this collection of Author Moravia's short stories deserves attention.
From Time Magazine Archive
In jacketing vessels, to prevent draughts, care must be taken that the jackets do not cause currents of cold air to rise rapidly up the sides of the vessel, and so cool it.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 430, March 29, 1884 by Various
The object of jacketing is to prevent the loss of heat from the steam within the cylinder by radiation.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
If the sphere is charged and then the jacketing hemispheres fitted on it and removed, the sphere is found to be perfectly discharged.3 Numerous other demonstrations of this fact were given by Faraday.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various
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