fedora
Americannoun
-
fedoras
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fedora
1885–90, said to be named after Fédora, play by Victorien Sardou (1831–1908)
Explanation
A fedora is a felt hat with a wide brim and indentations on top. Many 1930s and 1940s actors wore fedoras in movies. Most fedoras are creased along the top, or crown, and pinched on either side, and they're sometimes trimmed around the center with a wide ribbon. Although fedoras might make you think of 1920s gangsters or Indiana Jones, the earliest fedoras were worn by women, and even became a symbol of the early women's rights movement. The word comes from an 1882 play, Fédora, in which the actress Sarah Bernhardt wore a fedora.
Vocabulary lists containing fedora
Put a Lid On It: Hats, Hoods, and Other Headgear
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The Red Pyramid
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Life Is So Good
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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:
Rock also acts in the movie as an on-the-skids filmmaker named Jordan who, when tasked to reboot “Dreamgirls,” dresses up for the job with a retro fedora.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
This includes Dolan’s fronting of an embarrassing blues-rock band, often while sporting a fedora, and he inflicts his music on audiences by installing himself as the opener for acts like the Eagles.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Wearing a black hood over his fedora and sunglasses to complete his persona, he begins to boast about winning the NAW championship at the last show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
Kid Rock headlined in a furry white vest, cutoff shorts and a fedora, singing his late-1990s hit “Bawitdaba” to a modest crowd indoors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
A woman with a rose-colored hat holds the arm of a man in a fawn-colored fedora.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
He loved hats, fedoras at first but then black fisherman beanies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The mostly female attendees range from 30 years old to over 70 and are attired in outfits including cutoffs, tank tops, straw fedoras and glamorous full-length dresses.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
That meant bringing a splash of West Side Story to the ceremony, with the singer dancing on rooftops and fire escapes with dancers dressed in 1950s-style fedoras.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2024
The subjects of his paintings swing rackets in tennis whites, slow dance in full skirts, play the horn in fedoras.
From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2023
But I looked through the window and watched the man make those fedoras.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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.
