wardrobe
Americannoun
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a stock of clothes or costumes, as of a person or of a theatrical company.
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a piece of furniture for holding clothes, now usually a tall, upright case fitted with hooks, shelves, etc.
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a room or place in which to keep clothes or costumes.
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the department of a royal or other great household charged with the care of wearing apparel.
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a department in a motion-picture or television studio in charge of supplying and maintaining costumes.
Report to wardrobe right after lunch.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a tall closet or cupboard, with a rail or hooks on which to hang clothes
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the total collection of articles of clothing belonging to one person
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the collection of costumes belonging to a theatre or theatrical company
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wardrobe
1250–1300; Middle English warderobe < Anglo-French. See ward (v.), robe
Explanation
All of the clothes in your closet make up your wardrobe. If you're tired of your wardrobe, it just might be time to go shopping. From the words warder, meaning “to protect”, and robe, meaning a “piece of clothing,” wardrobe originally meant an entire room where a person's clothing was stored. Nowadays, most people don’t have an entire room for their clothes, so the word wardrobe has downsized to just a large cabinet, or the clothing itself. A wardrobe can also be the costumes (or the costume department) of a theater company or movie.
Vocabulary lists containing wardrobe
The Ottoman Empire: Furniture Words
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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Academy Awards, List 5
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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.
The landscape inspired the author C. S. Lewis to create his fictional land Narnia, the setting for his chronicles including, most famously, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
From BBC • Jun. 30, 2026
The Community Wardrobe in St Alphege Church in Whitstable said it had seen an increase in demand for pre-worn school uniform as parents sought cost-effective solutions.
From BBC • Aug. 28, 2025
Julie Ann Clauss runs a solution to the dilemma: the Wardrobe.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2023
Angela Feiner, a Wardrobe client, found the archiving entity via Instagram and saw it as the perfect opportunity to store garments that are out of rotation, but only for the moment.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2023
He reminded me of the old professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
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.
