costume
Americannoun
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costumes
plural
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a style of dress, including accessories and hairdos, especially that peculiar to a nation, region, group, or historical period.
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dress or garb characteristic of another period, place, person, etc., as worn on the stage or at balls.
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fashion of dress appropriate to a particular occasion or season.
dancing costume; winter costume.
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a set of garments, especially women's garments, selected for wear at a single time; outfit; ensemble.
verb (used with object)
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costumes,
present (3rd person singular)
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costumed,
past participle, past
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costuming
present participle
adjective
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of or characterized by the wearing of costumes.
a costume party.
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meant for use with or appropriate to a specific costume.
costume accessories.
noun
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a complete style of dressing, including all the clothes, accessories, etc, worn at one time, as in a particular country or period; dress
national costume
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old-fashioned a woman's suit
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a set of clothes, esp unusual or period clothes, worn in a play by an actor or at a fancy dress ball
a jester's costume
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short for swimming costume
verb
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to furnish the costumes for (a show, film, etc)
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to dress (someone) in a costume
Synonym Usage
See dress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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costumesimple
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costumessimple
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have costumedperfect
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has costumedperfect
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am costumingprogressive
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are costumingprogressive
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is costumingprogressive
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have been costumingperfect progressive
-
has been costumingperfect progressive
Past
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costumedsimple
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had costumedperfect
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was costumingprogressive
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were costumingprogressive
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had been costumingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of costume
1705–15; < French < Italian: usage, habit, dress; doublet of custom
Explanation
A costume is a set of clothes you wear when you want to dress up like another person. You might wear a witch's costume to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, or put on a George Washington costume to reenact a scene from the American Revolution in a play. A costume is a set of clothes that is unique to a particular person or time period. If you were starring as Dorothy in your neighborhood production of The Wizard of Oz, your costume would consist of a blue-and-white checkered dress and ruby slippers. On the other hand, if you were starring as Lady Godiva, you wouldn't need much of a costume at all!
Vocabulary lists containing costume
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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October Words
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Reading: Literature - Drama - Introductory
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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:
Not only does she seize her moment, she even briefly slips into Misty’s old “Red Eye” costume: a Jackie-esque stewardess skirt suit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Chimi Lhamo, an ethnic Tibetan makeup artist working in one of Shangri-La’s hundreds of costume photography studios, is torn about the tourist waves that have transformed her hometown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Ethnographer Imre Romsics said paprika became an important symbol of Hungarian identity during the 19th century, "alongside costume, folk art and other traditions".
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
"After having lived here my whole life, it's funny walking down the streets of Belfast and bumping into people that I know wearing my full police costume," Braniff says.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
But the makeup and costume she had worn for her part was more than any other member of the cast.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
The archive also keeps costumes made using the Globe's "original practices" approach, which aims to recreate how plays were staged in Shakespeare's time.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Denny and Hector are wearing the same costumes and masks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Kullberg uses props and costumes and plays all the roles in her videos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Varga was a member in the earliest incarnations of Gwar — famed for its outrageous costumes and blood-soaked sets — as Sexicutioner from 1985 to 1997.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
A handful of kids dressed up today, but most kids just wore normal clothes, or those don’t-actually-count costumes like baseball jerseys.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
Chuck Varga, a founding member of the costumed shock-metal act Gwar, has died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
The Jive Bunny album covers and music videos featured a cartoon rabbit, with costumed actors also making promotional appearances as the character.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
A fleet company of dancers, choreographed and costumed by Spencer Liff, added to the dreamlike effect of a concert bookended by numbers from “A Chorus Line.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Given the group’s commitment to costumed stage personas, the mixed sexuality of their members, and their name, the Village People came to represent the confluence of masculinity and queerness.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
He costumed the actors in green plastic trash bags.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
The Envelope spoke to the costuming teams behind these Emmy-nominated series about toast-worthy guest attire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
This isn’t the kind of film that gets Oscar nominations, but Arianne Phillips and Monica Chamberlain’s bonkers costuming, all candy colors and asymmetrical shapes, deserves recognition, or at least awe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
They didn’t get to figure out staging, costuming and what made a good Beatle setlist.
From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026
Swift says the goal of the Eras tour was to "over-serve" in terms of the number of songs performed, the extravagance of the costuming, and the details of each set design.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
It is a distinctly 1960s take on the Gospel of St. Matthew, a sort of period piece within a period piece that was initially criticized for its flower-child vibe and hippie-dippie costuming.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
