plural noun
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articles of dress
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( as modifier )
clothes brush
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short for bedclothes
Usage
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.
Etymology
Origin of clothes
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English clāthas, plural of clāth cloth
Compare meaning
How does clothes compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
He said retailers that stock their shelves with PVH’s clothes remain cautious, but added that fall-season ordering trends for Europe were “positive.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 1, 2026
Police say a person observed at the scene wearing dark clothes is considered a suspect but remains at large.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
“They say that any woman examining the clothes in her wardrobe lives again the highlights of her past,” he told the Independent.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
She said many of the features they had added to clothes were "not rocket science".
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026
I remember her baggy, unwashed clothes, her messy bun, her watery eyes.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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.
