brassiere
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of brassiere
1910–15; < French brassière bodice worn as an undergarment to support the breasts (now obsolete in this sense), Middle French bracieres camisole, Old French: armor for the arms, equivalent to bras arm ( see brace) + -ière, suffix added to body part nouns, the resultant derivative denoting an article for that part < Latin -āria -ary
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.
One of the most intimate items in the collection is Monroe's 1950s brassiere that the auction company said had "yellowed due to age" and was inherited by Monroe's acting coach Paula Strasberg.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
The film’s laughs come from empathy, not derision, when a brassiere saleswoman tut-tuts that Margaret is “not even a 32A.”
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023
Only when DNA technology advanced to the point where a complete genetic profile could be developed from evidence gleaned from the girl’s brassiere could a solid link be made, Detective Leah Wagner said.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 22, 2020
And there is Gail Chovan, a designer and teacher in Austin, Tex., who after a double mastectomy rejected breast reconstruction and the padded brassiere her mother had urged her to wear.
From New York Times • May 23, 2017
On the streetcar going back, I read the advertisements: a beer, a chocolate bar, a brassiere turning into a bird.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
