vogue
Americannoun
-
something in fashion, as at a particular time.
Short hairdos were the vogue in the twenties.
- Synonyms:
- mode
-
popular currency, acceptance, or favor; popularity.
The book is having a great vogue.
noun
-
the popular style at a specified time (esp in the phrase in vogue )
-
a period of general or popular usage or favour
the vogue for such dances is now over
adjective
Synonym Usage
See fashion.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vogue
First recorded in 1565–75; Middle French: literally, “wave or course of success,” from Old Italian voga “a rowing,” derivative of vogare “to row, sail,” of unknown origin
Explanation
If something is the latest vogue, it is the latest fashion. When your new hairstyle catches on, it's in vogue — or if it becomes unpopular, it’s not. Anything trendy or popular — an activity, fashionable clothing, a home decorating style, board games — can be called “in vogue.” If you notice everyone scrambling to collect, say, robotic hummingbirds, you'll know that they are the vogue item. You might think that tall boots are no longer in vogue, and you notice a lot of short skirts showing up in Vogue magazine. Vogue — the magazine — often decides what fashion is in vogue.
Vocabulary lists containing vogue
English Words Derived from French, List 3
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50 Words from Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"
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Between the World and Me
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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.
Ballet flats are back in vogue, and that’s prompted some unlikely companies to hop on the bandwagon with their own riffs on the classic shoe silhouette.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
But Zhu's brand of market reformism, which lifted millions out of poverty but unleashed inequality, fell out of vogue with the ascent of Xi Jinping in 2012.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
In keeping with the mid-19th century vogue for collecting and labeling specimens, a shipment of Ceylon oyster shells traveled to the British Museum in 1868.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
President Reagan had just been elected, consumerism was back in vogue and a new wave of Hollywood films memorialized “a sleek city defined by these noirish neon nights and these bright, intense, colorful days.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
He preferred not to perform in large concert halls, as was increasingly the vogue, but rather in small salons and private homes.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
