brocade
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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brocades,
present (3rd person singular)
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brocaded,
past participle, past
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brocading
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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brocadesimple
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brocadessimple
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have brocadedperfect
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has brocadedperfect
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am brocadingprogressive
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are brocadingprogressive
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is brocadingprogressive
-
have been brocadingperfect progressive
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has been brocadingperfect progressive
Past
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brocadedsimple
-
had brocadedperfect
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was brocadingprogressive
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were brocadingprogressive
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had been brocadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of brocade
1555–65; earlier brocado < Spanish < Italian broccato embossed (fabric), past participle of broccare, derivative of brocco twisted thread, shoot < Late Latin; see broach
Explanation
Brocade is a thick, weighty, fancy material with a raised pattern. You might see an opera singer wearing a dress made of brocade fabric, or you might see it used to create ornate silk cushions. Brocade comes from the Italian word brocco, meaning "twisted thread." Brocade fabric has a rich, ornate slightly old-fashioned feel to it. You might hear the word brocade used to describe the curtains in the homes of wealthy old women who may or may not have bodies or other horrible secrets in the unused upstairs rooms. Brocade can also be a verb that describes the action of weaving a design into fabric.
Vocabulary lists containing brocade
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
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"Love's Vocabulary," Vocabulary from the essay
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Pygmalion
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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:
Fabrics with sheen or brocade thread add luminescence in the darkened church setting, says Walicka Maimone: “Only so much lighting can come from the windows. We need to lift the palette and create the sparkle.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
The collection also featured brocade capes, puffer jackets and long wool coats with oversized fur cuffs.
From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026
The next was an elegant Audrey Hepburn spaghetti-strap white brocade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
Best known for his use of lotus and peacock motifs, Bal used rich fabrics like velvet and brocade - his designs were elaborate, inspired by Indian grandeur and royalty.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2024
Everyone’s gown was of bright silk or brocade, and many were embroidered with gold and silver threads and lined in fur, or stitched with sequins and pearls.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
From rich woven silks, patterned brocades and intricate chintz to a range of less talked-about textiles, India's contribution to the global textile industry is unique.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2025
With golden brocades and rich navys, this is a swinging, stylish time.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2022
One thing every costume had in common: they were all solid colors; no prints, brocades or lace.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2022
The collection offers different silk weights, metallic brocades and white and metallic lace, some of which have beautiful, intricate artwork.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
Satins and foils and stiff brocades, encrusted with jewels and trimmed in furs with the heads still on, glassy eyes, bared fangs and all.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Working with her brother-in-law, Tomás de los Arcos, who fabricated the brocaded ecclesiastical garments incised with gold, Luisa Roldán made a startlingly lifelike, hyperreal figure of the preaching saint Ginés de la Jara.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
The entire cast could behave as cold and stiffly as corpses, and as long as we're also wheeled through brocaded beauty and inspired grotesquery, this follow-up will have done its job.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2020
Consider his “Madonna at the Fountain,” in which the beatific Mary hovers in three dimensions before a brocaded carpet, held aloft by two rainbow-winged angels.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2020
“There was none of this,” he said, motioning toward finely brocaded upholstery, plush silks and a mantelpiece crowded with photographs of world leaders the king had known.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2016
She flung open the drawers of the bureau and the door of the closet, filled with saris of every imaginable texture and shade, brocaded with gold and silver threads.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"Royal India" may be the longest shadow of the imperial sunset, but the techniques this show celebrates--like tie-dying, brocading, hand embroidering and intricate weaving--are still practiced.
From Time Magazine Archive
The great Camellia trees gave lavishly of their waxen flowers, brocading the snow in crimson.
From The House of the Misty Star A Romance of Youth and Hope and Love in Old Japan by Frances Little
Tusser-silk, tus′ėr-silk, n. a kind of dark fawn-coloured silk, generally made without brocading or patterns.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
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.
