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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

Some reports suggested a black tie dress code, complete with top hats for men and evening gloves for women.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

One thousand attendees in black tie are expected.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

Crowded into the ballroom were Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several cabinet members and top lawmakers, and hundreds of guests in black tie.

From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026

That the 43-year-old was attending the black tie event with stars and Washington elites in December is a sign of how drastically Milton’s fortunes had changed in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

In 2004 the annual cocktail party and auction for the Nantucket Historical Association instituted valet parking and a classical quartet in black tie.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

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

It also may have been his own ironic interpretation of the unwritten Cannes rule that men should be "en smoking" -- the French term for a black-tie dress suit.

From Barron's ● May 22, 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

Russell Pickett, the billionaire chairman and founder of Pickett Engineering, shocked the black-tie audience at last night’s Indianapolis Prize by announcing that his entire estate would be left to his pet tuatara.

From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green

Related Words

• tux
• tuxedo