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• black tie
  black tie

  noun

  a black bow tie, worn with a dinner jacket.
• black-tie
  black-tie

  adjective

  requiring that guests wear semiformal attire, especially that men wear black bow ties with tuxedos or dinner jackets.

black tie

¹ American  

noun

• black ties
  plural

1. a black bow tie, worn with a dinner jacket.

2. semiformal evening wear for men (distinguished from white tie).

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black-tie ² American  

[blak-tahy] / ˈblækˈtaɪ /

adjective

1. requiring that guests wear semiformal attire, especially that men wear black bow ties with tuxedos or dinner jackets.

   a black-tie dance.

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black tie British  

noun

1. a black bow tie worn with a dinner jacket

2. (modifier) denoting an occasion when a dinner jacket should be worn

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• black ties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of black tie¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Origin of black-tie²

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

black tie black-tie

Chey paired an ivory suit with a black tie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

One thousand attendees in black tie are expected.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

Holland wore black trousers, a black jacket, a red dress shirt and black tie while Zendaya donned a strapless black gown with a fringed skirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Speaking while wearing black tie attire to a room full of journalists also in formal wear, he praised the Secret Service, and said that everyone in the room owed them a "tremendous debt of gratitude".

From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026

I pictured him waking up in the morning, staring at his closet, and thinking, Hmm . . . hmm . . . how about a white shirt and a black tie?

From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green

The beginning of Infantino’s fall may have started last year at the White House when he and Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo attended a black-tie dinner to honor Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Instead, reporters sat in their black-tie attire and behaved like sycophants.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026

At the briefing, Trump expressed dismay at the violent outburst at the Washington Hilton, where the black-tie event has been held for more than 50 years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

Guests at the black-tie White House Correspondents' Dinner scrambled to hide under tables.

From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026

And, of course, when the occasion arose to write out a menu for a black-tie dinner party in Odessa, he would know exactly what to do.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

Related Words

• tux
• tuxedo