informal (tr) to reprimand severely or scold (a person)
(intr) to dress in a casual or informal manner, esp at work
Scold, reprimand, as in The sergeant will dress down the entire unit . In the 15th century the verb dress alone was used in the sense of “punish,” down being added several centuries later. It also gave rise to the noun dressing down for punishment with blows or words. For example, The teacher gave the girls a severe dressing down .
Wear informal clothes, as in It's best to dress down for a party like a barbecue . [Mid-1900s] For the antonym, see dress up .
First recorded in 1950–55
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rosalía wisely recruited the swooning Mexican American sierreña trio, Yahritza Y Su Esencia, to help her better emulate a Paquita La Del Barrio dress-down of a lover gone astray.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
He repeated the words “I’m comin'” at least a dozen times, and had players chant words such as “smart!” “tough!” and “disciplined!” after the dress-down.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 21, 2023
We have dress-down Fridays, which now becomes dress down every day of the week.
From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2018
Today, on a dress-down at work day, she's wearing leggings, flip-flops and a baggy top.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2017
As a student at Jasper County High, Mr. Pinckney took to wearing suits, ties and starched white shirts to school, even on dress-down Fridays in sweltering heat.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2015
“My late husband worked in fundraising and had learned to look beyond the surface, as many of his former company’s largest donors tended to dress down so as to not attract attention,” she said.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
But Ali Bongo re-emerged as a more reserved figure, attempting to dress down and travelling to campaign in the provinces.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
It’s worth the wait to see Wilson dress down a German ambassador as a prelude to America’s entrance in the war.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2021
Studio Museum Director Thelma Golden called Drew into her office — not to dress down the younger woman but to consider how she could be more effective with her incisive observation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2020
The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn’t make me dress down for today’s class.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
