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)
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apparels,
present (3rd person singular)
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appareled,
past participle, past
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apparelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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appareling,
present participle
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apparelling
present participle (especially British)
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
-
am apparellingprogressive
-
are apparelingprogressive
-
are apparellingprogressive
-
is apparelingprogressive
-
is apparellingprogressive
-
have been apparelingperfect progressive
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have been apparellingperfect progressive
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has been apparelingperfect progressive
-
has been apparellingperfect progressive
Past
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appareledsimple
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apparelledsimple
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had appareledperfect
-
had apparelledperfect
-
was apparelingprogressive
-
was apparellingprogressive
-
were apparelingprogressive
-
were apparellingprogressive
-
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:
While some clubs have transferred betting sponsors on to other parts of their apparel, it has not been widespread.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
"We got stuck with basic products," he said, adding that Bangladesh had not fully tapped opportunities in military uniforms and medical apparel.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
“They were a sustainable apparel brand that wasn’t a potato sack,” Ramirez said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Shein, the Chinese e-commerce giant known for cheap apparel, is buying the direct-to-consumer brand Everlane, according to news reports.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
“One bedroom above an apparel shop,” said Alvin Hooks.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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
The Clean Clothes Campaign said it was braced for further cases of union suppression 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
There is continual mention in the records of those times of offerings of embroideries and other Church apparels.
From Needlework As Art by Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess Alford
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
Except John Danusco, all the rest came with him from Peru: and every one of them brought fourteen or fifteen thousand ducats: all of them went well and costly appareled.
From A Narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida published at Evora in 1557 by A Gentleman of Elvas [pseud.]
Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled, and live luxuriously, are in kings' houses.
From The Bible Story by Newton Marshall Hall
He received a large sum to defray his expenses; and when he appeared at court, on December 17th, he was no longer in irons and disgrace, but richly appareled and surrounded with friends.
From Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia being a concordance of choice tributes to the great Genoese, his grand discovery, and his greatness of mind and purpose by J. M. (John Marcus) Dickey
Behold, they who are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are in kings' palaces. 26But what went ye out to see?
From The New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The common English version, corrected by the final committee of the American Bible Union. by American Bible Union
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
Cleopatra was apparelled in a robe of pale green, open at either side, and clasped with golden bees.
From One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances One of Cleopatra's Nights?Clarimonde?Arria Marcella?The Mummy's Foot?Omphale: a Rococo Story?King Candaules by Th?ophile Gautier
This curious procession was followed by Dr. Fulton and a tall elderly gentleman similarly apparelled to the surgeons.
From First Person Paramount by Ambrose Pratt
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 J. G. (Josiah Gilbert) Holland
Pale and hard the face rose from this somber and gorgeous appareling.
From The Secret of Lonesome Cove by Samuel Hopkins Adams
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 John Keats
"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 John Turvill Adams
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 Abraham Merritt
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 Ambrose Bierce
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 E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson
But Wat, dear Wat, will you not put off your gay apparelling and take a night at the cartes with us at home.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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.
