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.
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
It’s nice on a windy day; it’s nice for a dress-up; it’s nice for a dress-down.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2017
Dress-down Friday has become dress-down every day in many workplaces, although people who deal with the public are usually still expected to don a tie every morning.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2017
Instead, it was a full-on dress-down, with Stewart's anger at Cramer taking over parts of the interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 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
David Mulroney, Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009 to 2012, said it appeared to him that Mr. Xi planned to dress down Mr. Trudeau within earshot of journalists’ microphones.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2022
So can they now dress down a bit?
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2022
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
Since it was the weekend, I tried to dress down.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
