clothe
Americanverb
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to dress or attire (a person)
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to provide with clothing or covering
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to conceal or disguise
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to endow or invest
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preclotheverb (used with object)
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reclotheverb (used with object)
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half-clothedadjective
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underclothedadjective
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well-clothedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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clothesimple
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clothessimple
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have cladperfect
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have clothedperfect
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has cladperfect
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has clothedperfect
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am clothingprogressive
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are clothingprogressive
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is clothingprogressive
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have been clothingperfect progressive
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has been clothingperfect progressive
Past
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clothedsimple
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had cladperfect
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had clothedperfect
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was clothingprogressive
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were clothingprogressive
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had been clothingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of clothe
before 950; Middle English clothen, Old English clāthian, derivative of clāth cloth
Explanation
To clothe someone is to give them something to wear, or to dress them in clothing. If you clothe your dog in cute outfits, you may traumatize him for life. You can clothe yourself, or someone else — for example, you might clothe yourself in black for a relative's funeral or clothe yourself in sequins and feathers for the school dance. You can also figuratively clothe someone or something, lending them a sense of power or respectability. Clothe shares a root with clothing and cloth, the Old English claþ, "cloth or sail," and also "woven material to wrap around oneself."
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:
“It could be. But as a deceased priest once said: ‘Baby Jesus was born naked so that each nation could clothe him according to its culture.’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
I take the injunction to welcome the stranger and to feed and clothe very seriously.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2024
Feed the hungry, help the poor, heal the sick, house the homeless, clothe the naked, welcome strangers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2024
But he said it was entirely consistent with Francis’ call for artists to engage with the poor and the Gospel mandate to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and visit the incarcerated.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
This allowed the urban rich to flaunt their wealth while the rural poor struggled to feed and clothe their families.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
"We're freezing, we put on clothes and lie down to sleep."
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026
He dressed like a tramp in worn and rumpled clothes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
Among the debris, smashed concrete and twisted metal, are household items and clothes.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026
“He had a special energy and a love of keeping clothes from being too serious. He also totally designed for the masses.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026
With one other woman who had not “passed,” I scrambled back into my clothes and followed the trustee from the building.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
So it may surprise some that Talbot’s favorite scene from “Love Story” involves both Kelly and Pidgeon fully clothed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
An officer asked: "Were they both fully clothed when you walked in?"
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
The men are variously clothed in bloused tops and tights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Over the course of American history, women have been expected to do whatever work is necessary to keep their families fed, clothed and sheltered in sanitary homes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
The goal of classic style is to make it seem as if the writer’s thoughts were fully formed before he clothed them in words.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
The next day, police seized the 31-year-old, who was clad in a T-shirt bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi and holding an Indian flag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
On a rainy Thursday in Broken Bow, buyers clad in cowboy hats, plaid shirts and denim gathered for the regular indoor cattle auction.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
The unfussy, DIY aesthetic is immediately apparent, with an exterior clad entirely in plywood sheeting that has been painted and repainted several times over the decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The homes, mostly clad in wooden exteriors, none more than two stories high, are scattered along 10 miles of coastline about 100 miles north of San Francisco.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Moss saw someone climb up onto the railing on the east side of Broadway, and they were promptly tackled by an officer clad all in black.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
"All of a sudden a few of them showed up, but they were all torn," clothing and accessories vendor Rita Gomez told AFP.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026
But his hands were manicured, and he wore expensive English-made clothing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2026
That plan has brought in more than 91,000 tents and 8,200-plus trucks with tarpaulins, blankets, winter clothing, and other equipment, according to Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for aid.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
Children’s Place started as a toy store in 1969 and also sold children’s clothing at that time, CFO John Szczepanski explained at a conference in September of last year.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 10, 2026
He tosses out a few pieces of damp clothing, pots and pans, a few drenched books, wet photographs of him and his dad, and the map of Jackson before he finally pulls out a G-pen.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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