fancy dress

American  

noun

• fancy dresses
  plural

1. a costume for a ball, masquerade, etc., chosen to please the fancy, usually a costume characteristic of a particular period or place, class of persons, or historical or fictitious character.

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fancy dress British  

noun

1. 1. costume worn at masquerades, etc, usually representing a particular role, historical figure, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a fancy-dress ball

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fancy dresses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fancy dress

First recorded in 1760–70

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fancy dress

A masquerade without masks is merely fancy dress with an open bar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Helmets are obligatory for those being carried - fancy dress is expected.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026

New Year's Day is traditionally the day when brave swimmers don their fancy dress for the Loony Dook - a hangover-clearing dip in the bracing waters of the Firth of Forth.

From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025

Winkleman, who put out the flames with another parent, took a short break from Strictly, and later campaigned for tougher fire safety laws on fancy dress costumes.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2025

And the little line about myself at the bottom, saying who Maxim had married as his second wife, and how he had just given the fancy dress ball at Manderley.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

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Related Words

• apparel
• regalia

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