apparel
Americannoun
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clothing, especially outerwear; garments; attire; raiment.
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anything that decorates or covers.
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superficial appearance; aspect; guise.
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Nautical. the masts, sails, anchor, etc., used to equip a vessel.
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Ecclesiastical. a piece of embroidery, usually oblong, on certain vestments, especially on the alb or amice.
verb (used with object)
noun
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something that covers or adorns, esp outer garments or clothing
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nautical a vessel's gear and equipment
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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apparelsimple
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apparelssimple
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have appareledperfect
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have apparelledperfect
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has appareledperfect
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has apparelledperfect
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am apparelingprogressive
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am apparellingprogressive
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are apparelingprogressive
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are apparellingprogressive
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is apparelingprogressive
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is apparellingprogressive
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have been apparelingperfect progressive
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have been apparellingperfect progressive
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has been apparelingperfect progressive
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has been apparellingperfect progressive
Past
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appareledsimple
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apparelledsimple
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had appareledperfect
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had apparelledperfect
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was apparelingprogressive
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was apparellingprogressive
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were apparelingprogressive
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were apparellingprogressive
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had been apparelingperfect progressive
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had been apparellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of apparel
1200–50; Middle English appareillen < Old French apareillier to make fit, fit out < Vulgar Latin *appariculāre, equivalent to ap- ap- 1 + *paricul ( us ) a fit ( see par 1 -cule 1) + -ā- thematic vowel + -re infinitive suffix
Explanation
Apparel is just another word for what you wear. Hopefully the apparel you wear to work — suits and heels — is very different from the apparel you wear on the weekends — pajama pants and bunny slippers. The noun apparel got its start from the Latin apparare, meaning to “prepare, make ready,” or ad-particulare, meaning “to put things together.” In the mid 13th century it evolved into a verb meaning “to equip.” It wasn’t until the next century that people began to use apparel as both a verb meaning “to attire” and as a noun meaning garments or clothing. Said 17th century British writer Thomas Fuller, “…Apparel shapes: but it's money that finishes the man.”
Vocabulary lists containing apparel
Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Words for Carolers
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Let's Go Caroling, List 1
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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:
Bulky server racks and wafer-thin semiconductors needed for the AI build-out are taking up space in cargo planes once occupied by packages of low-price apparel and knickknacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
He then got a referral to make uniforms for multiple teams in the area before starting an apparel company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Shirts such as Japan's and Curacao's have become statements of identity as much as team merchandise, helping Adidas blur the line between football apparel and everyday fashion.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
She decided to forfeit her 20-year career as a technical designer in the apparel industry after clothing company Lucky Brand eliminated her job during the pandemic.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
Cluny’s personal armorer put the final touches to his Chief’s war apparel.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The Clean Clothes Campaign said it was braced for further cases of union suppression across the apparels industry.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 16, 2020
It is also adding to fears among labour rights campaigners that Covid-19 is providing cover for an industry-wide suppression of workers’ voices across the apparels industry.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 16, 2020
India unit and Mandhana Industries Ltd., an Indian maker of apparels with 5,000 employees in Mumbai and Bangalore, will give workers the option of taking the afternoon off.
From BusinessWeek ● Mar. 30, 2011
Ushered by a gate into the Johore Village, we viewed the habitations, weapons, apparels, and curiosities of that Malay tribe.
From By Water to the Columbian Exposition by Wisthaler, Johanna S.
Fear ye God and take heed lest forms and apparels debar you from recognizing Him.
From Selections From the Writings of the Báb by Báb
In contrast to the usual portrayals, Barbara Flynn’s matronly Mary is as confident and imperious as her cousin, if not nearly as well appareled.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2018
Over these figures was written: "When this cloth shall be opened, men appareled like these shall conquer Spain, and be the lords thereof."
From A Short History of Spain by Parmele, Mary Platt
To dress with external ornaments; to cover with something ornamental; to deck; to embellish; as, trees appareled with flowers, or a garden with verdure.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
After a short confinement there, the Duke by royal order was delivered over to the custody of Sir James Tyler and another knight; and, "appareled in a piled black cloak," was escorted to Salisbury.
From The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West by Rogers, William Henry Hamilton
And as soon as they were come in, they saw Indian men and women appareled like Spaniards, whom they asked in what country they were?
From A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 by A Gentleman of Elvas [pseud.]
As a child, his world had been "apparelled in celestial light," but no longer.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2021
The veteran Robert Warwick is properly apparelled and deep-voiced as Chandler.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the middle of it there was a green silk canopy borne on four spears by four knights gorgeously apparelled.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The procession awed the populace, for every new-comer—gorgeously apparelled though he was—wore a grave face and a saddened mien.
From The Tangled Skein by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness
We watched an extremely good-looking and richly apparelled young lady, who, after she had said her preliminary devotions, looked round her as if seeking somebody.
From Cuba Past and Present by Davey, Richard
Wordsworth idealized newborns, who he said entered life “trailing clouds of glory” and appareling all they saw in “celestial light.”
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2013
The day came at last, and at ten Mrs. Dillingham entered the grand drawing-room in her queenly appareling.
From Sevenoaks by Holland, J. G. (Josiah Gilbert)
Pale and hard the face rose from this somber and gorgeous appareling.
From The Secret of Lonesome Cove by Adams, Samuel Hopkins
For as Apollo each eve doth devise A new appareling for western skies; So every eve, nay every spendthrift hour Shed balmy consciousness within that bower.
From Endymion A Poetic Romance by Keats, John
Elsie went out to buy a gift for Jacqueline, a bit of fine apparelling which she had coveted from the moment she knew Jacqueline should be a bride.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 35, September, 1860 by Various
Jeannie's maid must have been a first-rate hand at throwing, if by that simple process she produced in a quarter of an hour that exquisite and finished piece of apparelling which appeared at half-past eight.
From Daisy's Aunt by Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Then, having finished apparelling us and still chuckling, the two touched our arms and led us out, into a room whose circular sides were ringed with soft divans.
From The Moon Pool by Merritt, Abraham
"It is time that I were attending to my own apparelling, which, in looking at thee, I quite forgot," said the widow, rising, and leaving the apartment.
From The Knight of the Golden Melice A Historical Romance by Adams, John Turvill
They were always apparelling themselves in gaudy dresses from Paris, and going away to balls, leaving their meritorious little sister weeping at home in their every-day finery.
From Cobwebs from an Empty Skull by Bierce, Ambrose
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.
