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
-
have been costumingperfect progressive
-
has been costumingperfect progressive
Past
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costumedsimple
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had costumedperfect
-
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:
Its current incarnation is a student in a big red bear costume performing at sporting games.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
We see the original poster, the VHS tape and the killer’s costume.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
“It’s the meeting of those two worlds,” assistant costume designer George Sayer says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
A Japanese journalist coined the term cosplay -- combining costume and play -- in 1984 after seeing people dressed as monsters and aliens at a sci-fi convention in Los Angeles.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
She took the mouse costume from Nancy and studied it carefully.
From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene
I like to create, I always did my own Halloween costumes, I played with Legos, the Sims — I just like making stuff in general.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
Marco Piemontese’s striking period costumes conjured the artists’ milieu, and Marcus Doshi’s lighting evoked both festivity and the tragedy of the ending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
This was a one-man show performed in two costumes.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
"I think it would be really exciting to see different kinds of costumes," the 38-year-old nurse told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Lots of kids reuse their superhero and princess costumes from Halloween.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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
The two families with a long history of antagonism between them are vaguely costumed as either dark forces of oppression or their victims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 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
It's Saturday afternoon and the tournament resembles a beach bash in full swing, costumed bodies heaving under the blazing sun.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Inside, Rishi could see a bustle of colorful activity: squirming clots of costumed people and booths and banners and demonstrations.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
With each passing month, the book club became more elaborate and more involved — including vacations in coastal towns, costuming, pickleball tournaments and monogrammed custom merch.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
“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
Bretaña says method dressing tends to work best with sci-fi or fantasy projects because of the inherent drama in their costuming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
Baxter played most of the parts, bolstered by a riot of colour, fabulous sets, costuming and sharp scripts.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
“There is the matter of costuming her,” Mme.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
