dress
Americannoun
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dresses
plural
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an outer garment for women and girls, consisting of bodice and skirt in one piece.
- Synonyms:
- frock
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clothing; apparel; garb.
The dress of the 18th century was colorful.
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formal attire.
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a particular form of appearance; guise.
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outer covering, as the plumage of birds.
adjective
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of or for a dress or dresses.
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of or for a formal occasion.
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requiring formal dress.
verb (used with object)
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dresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dressed,
past participle, past
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drest,
past participle, past (Obsolete)
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dressing
present participle
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to put clothing upon.
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to put formal or evening clothes on.
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to trim; ornament; adorn.
to dress a store window; to dress a Christmas tree.
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to design clothing for or sell clothes to.
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to comb out and do up (hair).
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to cut up, trim, and remove the skin, feathers, viscera, etc., from (an animal, meat, fowl, or flesh of a fowl) for market or for cooking (often followed by out when referring to a large animal).
We dressed three chickens for the dinner. He dressed out the deer when he got back to camp.
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to prepare (skins, fabrics, timber, stone, ore, etc.) by special processes.
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to apply medication or a dressing to (a wound or sore).
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to make straight; bring (troops) into line.
to dress ranks.
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to make (stone, wood, or other building material) smooth.
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to cultivate (land, fields, etc.).
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Theater. to arrange (a stage) by effective placement of properties, scenery, actors, etc.
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to ornament (a vessel) with ensigns, house flags, code flags, etc..
The bark was dressed with masthead flags only.
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Angling.
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to prepare or bait (a fishhook) for use.
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to prepare (bait, especially an artificial fly) for use.
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Printing. to fit (furniture) around and between pages in a chase prior to locking it up.
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to supply with accessories, optional features, etc..
to have one's new car fully dressed.
verb (used without object)
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dresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dressed,
past participle, past
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drest,
past participle, past (Obsolete)
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dressing
present participle
-
to clothe or attire oneself; put on one's clothes.
Wake up and dress, now!
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to put on or wear formal or fancy clothes.
to dress for dinner.
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to come into line, as troops.
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to align oneself with the next soldier, marcher, dancer, etc., in line.
verb phrase
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dress down
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to reprimand; scold.
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to thrash; beat.
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to dress informally or less formally.
to dress down for the shipboard luau.
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dress up
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to put on one's best or fanciest clothing; dress relatively formally.
They were dressed up for the Easter parade.
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to dress in costume or in another person's clothes.
to dress up in Victorian clothing; to dress up as Marie Antoinette.
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to embellish or disguise, especially in order to make more appealing or acceptable.
to dress up the facts with colorful details.
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idioms
verb
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to put clothes on (oneself or another); attire
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(intr)
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to change one's clothes
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to wear formal or evening clothes
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(tr) to provide (someone) with clothing; clothe
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(tr) to arrange merchandise in (a shop window) for effective display
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(tr) to comb out or arrange (the hair) into position
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(tr) to apply protective or therapeutic covering to (a wound, sore, etc)
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(tr) to prepare (food, esp fowl and fish) for cooking or serving by cleaning, trimming, gutting, etc
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(tr) to put a finish on (the surface of stone, metal, etc)
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(tr) to till and cultivate (land), esp by applying manure, compost, or fertilizer
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(tr) to prune and trim (trees, bushes, etc)
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(tr) to groom (an animal, esp a horse)
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(tr) to convert (tanned hides) into leather
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archaic (tr) to spay or neuter (an animal)
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angling to tie (a fly)
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military to bring (troops) into line or (of troops) to come into line (esp in the phrase dress ranks )
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nautical to decorate a vessel by displaying all signal flags on lines run from the bow to the stern over the mast trucks
noun
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a one-piece garment for a woman, consisting of a skirt and bodice
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complete style of clothing; costume
formal dress
military dress
-
(modifier) suitable or required for a formal occasion
a dress shirt
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the outer covering or appearance, esp of living things
trees in their spring dress of leaves
Usage
What does dress mean? A dress is a piece of clothing made up of a blouse and skirt in one piece. Dress can also refer to any formal attire, as in We’ve decided the wedding will be informal dress, with shorts and sneakers allowed. Dress can refer to clothing in general, especially for a specific group of people or time period, as in Men’s dress from the 1800s included top hats and greatcoats. To dress means to put clothes on or prepare for an event involving formal clothing, as in While pajamas are comfy, you do have to get dressed for school, you know. As an adjective, dress almost always refers to clothes thought to be fancy or formal, such as dress pants or dress shoes. Fancy dress usually means a costume for a ball or masquerade, however. Example: The event got cancelled right after I finished getting dressed for it.
Synonym Usage
Dress, costume, gown refer to garments for women. Dress is the general term for a garment: a black dress. Costume is used of the style of dress appropriate to some occasion, purpose, period, or character, especially as used on the stage, at balls, at court, or the like, and may apply to men's garments as well: an 18th-century costume. Gown is usually applied to a dress more expensive and elegant than the ordinary, usually long, to be worn on a special occasion: a wedding gown.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dresssimple
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dressessimple
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have dressedperfect
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have drestperfect
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has dressedperfect
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has drestperfect
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am dressingprogressive
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are dressingprogressive
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is dressingprogressive
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have been dressingperfect progressive
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has been dressingperfect progressive
Past
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dressedsimple
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drestsimple
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had dressedperfect
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had drestperfect
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was dressingprogressive
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were dressingprogressive
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had been dressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dress
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English dressen, from Anglo-French dresser, dresc(i)er, “to arrange, prepare,” Old French drecier, from unattested Vulgar Latin dīrēctiāre, derivative of Latin dīrēctus direct; noun use of verb in sense “attire” from circa 1600
Explanation
When you dress, you put your clothes on. A dress is also a kind of one-piece shirt and skirt combo that can be fancy or plain. You can also dress a salad with salad dressing! When you’re putting your clothes on, it’s usually phrased “get dressed.” If you dress up, you’re putting on something special. You can also dress another person — you might dress a toddler in a snowsuit or dress your dog in a sweater. When you dress a turkey for Thanksgiving, you don't clothe it, you simply prepare it for cooking. This is the oldest meaning of dress, which comes from the Old French dresser, "prepare, arrange, set a table, serve food."
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:
My stomach was in knots as I pictured myself clad in a lemon chiffon dress looking like a dollop of meringue, doing the Viennese waltz — something resembling a Centrum Silver commercial.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
You’re a bit of a rebel and tend to find dress codes arbitrary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
She explains that thicker straps are a safer option where the dress code is unclear and recommends satin camisoles as a more polished alternative to basic cotton vests.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
In the real world, people don’t typically dress to visit a medical facility the same way they do for work.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
“As I was saying earlier, sir, I’d like to have the elevator operator’s uniform so I can . . .” I hesitated, not wanting to say wash my dress.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Donations in Tavistock included branded and unbranded jumpers, shirts, skirts, dresses, wet weather clothing, shoes, lunchboxes and trousers.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
But they might not be enough to protect its viral dresses from going stale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
"I think it's really important, particularly the grey trousers, the dresses and the whites to be reused because they're all universal and any school can use them."
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
While Deborah favors dresses when spending time with Marty, the vibrant floral Kobi Halperin pantsuit illustrates that she is not making a play for her ex.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Once the Upstairs Cranstons are off across the you-know-what in all the wrong dresses, you will have Louise on your hands. She is entirely too attached to Camilla Cranston, and where does that leave you?”
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Villarreal: I want to know who she’s going to come dressed as.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The buxom stall-owner lifts a furry, giant hare, its dead eyes glazed, as a primly dressed female customer offers coins in payment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
"I flew from Shanghai to Chongqing this morning, and the first priority is this shoot," 30-year-old Liu Changqing told AFP, dressed in one of the heavy motorcycle jackets rented to customers, despite the sweltering heat.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
In a Stockholm suburb a man dressed in black appeared out of the winter night.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
The man dressed in black sits high on his horse.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Members of Congress: “little mannikins, shrewd, gabby, drest in black, hopping about, making motions, amendments.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 17, 2020
The quote from Blake might be bookended by one from Walt Whitman, who wrote that “whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2020
The fair'st flower that e're bosome drest; My soule's sweet rest.
From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I (of 2) by Crashaw, Richard
Tom Wilkin drest up in his best, T’ oud wife put on her fall, For they wor bent, what come or went, To dine at Malsis Hall.
From Random Rhymes and Rambles by Wright, William Aldis
He was respectably drest, except that upon his head he wore a common hairy cap.
From Wild Wales The People, Laguage & Scenery by Borrow, George Henry
The daily amount depends instead on the type of care, such as nursing care or home healthcare services such as bathing and dressing.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Making your own dressing, he says, is one of the easiest ways to improve your cooking.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
In the dressing room, De Zerbi said players were lying on their backs, some crying following the loss at the Stadium of Light.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Those close to Mudryk and others at the club say he felt genuine excitement and relief about returning to the Chelsea dressing room, where he still knows many of the players.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Nok remembered glimpsing her mother's dressing table through a gap between the servants' bodies.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
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.
