costume
Americannoun
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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)
adjective
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of or characterized by the wearing of costumes.
a costume party.
-
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
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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:
Davies was still in costume, her stage microphone still in place, when she recorded her Insta post, which she called "your daily reminder not to film at the theatre".
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Van der Velden envisions Tilly not as a single fictional character but as a performer who could appear in anything from a costume drama to a monster movie to a music video.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
But, he said, his cowboy attire was no costume.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
After her mom introduced her to the books, 9-year-old Reagan Day, in Boston, went in costume as Laura for her school’s dress-up-as-your-favorite-character day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
The costume had been for Di Shturem: The Yiddish Tempest, when Molly had played the villain, the vengeful sheyd, Chenya, her frankly inspired take on Shakespeare’s Caliban.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
There are costumes, in the form of uniforms, and choreography, in the navigation of a packed dining room.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
With their flamboyant costumes and choreography, the group became a pop culture phenomenon, targeting disco's large gay audience with camp fantasy characters of butch builders, bikers, cowboys and soldiers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
The costumes all originated in London or New York, but they’ve been traveling from city to city in storage “gondolas” since the current tour started in 2023, requiring constant repairs and touch-ups from local stitchers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
The outfit sold on Monday was specifically used for work outside TV studios and stunt work, while the other original costumes were reserved strictly for inside studios.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
“We must show the bathing costumes at least every other week.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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
It’s got bravery and heart and a masked killer costumed like an air conditioning vent.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
The exhibition introduces Williamsburg’s first interpreters: mostly older white women who, as costumed hostesses, were tasked with guiding visitors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
But TV had never seen anything quite like the Krofft shows, with its Day-Glo aesthetic, crazy conceptions and combination of puppets, costume puppets and costumed human characters into a half-hour comedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
The street was jammed with masked and costumed children making a deafening din with their penny tin horns.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
“By Design” cleverly drapes its thematic thorns in ornate production design and costuming, making its emotional impact all the more deceptive.
From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026
From the soundtrack’s mix of pop hits and little-known, chic electronic tunes, to Patricia Field’s sumptuous couture costuming — not to mention the stellar performances, lovely direction and clever writing.
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 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
An ensemble of eight, dressed in trim, lightly metallic costuming of neutral tones, tells of space-age men and women, with Emily Kikta and Preston Chamblee centrally featured, as their limbs take them through automaton-like moves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
All were found to be fraudulent—tricks of costuming, light, accomplices, secret tools, background research, and lots of practice.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
