noun
-
(often plural) an article of clothing
-
outer covering
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of garment
1300–50; Middle English garnement < Old French garniment, equivalent to garni ( r ) to garnish + -ment -ment
Explanation
A garment is a piece of clothing. The area of New York City where clothes are manufactured is known as the Garment District. Derived from the French word for "equipment," garment is a somewhat generic term you can use when the specific kind of clothing you're describing is not the point. A dress, for example, is a dress, and pants are pants. They are not the same thing, unless you refer to them both as garments, in which case they are the same thing.
Vocabulary lists containing garment
100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Drama
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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.
Prada is responsible for the inner garment that is designed to distribute chilled water across the body during the eight-hour spacewalks on the Moon planned as part of the subsequent Artemis IV mission.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
Online orders used to include a couple of sizes of the same garment to see which worked.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Shoppers are increasingly buying multiple versions of the same garment, and then sending back those that don’t fit.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Federal immigration agents fanned across the city, apprehending workers at car washes, garment businesses, Home Depots and other locations.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026
She was so thin inside her ragged garment.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
