clothes

[klohz, klohthz]

plural noun

1. garments for the body; articles of dress; wearing apparel.

   Synonyms: garb, costume, raiment, attire, clothing

2. bedclothes.

clothes

/ kləʊðz /

plural noun

1. 1. articles of dress

   2. ( as modifier )

      clothes brush

2. short for bedclothes

Word History and Origins

Origin of clothes¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English clāthas, plural of clāth cloth

Word History and Origins

Origin of clothes¹

Old English clāthas, plural of clāth _cloth

Example Sentences

In her 1958 novel “The Best of Everything,” about a group of young women navigating office life, Rona Jaffe spends a lot of time discussing clothes and how they augur success or failure.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Human hands have millions of nerve endings that, when combined with visual cues, help on tasks such as washing dishes, folding clothes or opening a jar, with minimal skill or training.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Rev John Beynon, CEO of Jacob's Well Appeal said: "We get a lot of donations. We could probably give clothes to every person in East Yorkshire."

Read more on BBC

My house is filled to overflowing with clothes I will never wear, books I will never read and pocket-size external hard drives I will never get around to formatting.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"They wore the brightest clothes they could because you wanted to get your face on TV. It looked like a really good edition of Songs of Praise."

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• attire 
• garb 
• regalia 
• sportswear 
• wardrobe 

When To Use

Spelling tips for clothes

The word clothes is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it sounds like the verb close, but it is spelled differently. Also, the word clothes is different from the plural of cloth (cloths), but the two are easily confused for one another. How to spell clothes: You aren't finished putting on clothes until you've tied Each Shoe (-es). Remembering that you need Each Shoe, or -es, at the end to finish getting dressed can help you spell clothes correctly.