gown
Americannoun
-
gowns
plural
-
a woman's dress or robe, especially one that is full-length.
- Synonyms:
- frock
-
a loose, flowing outer garment in any of various forms, worn by a man or woman as distinctive of office, profession, or status.
an academic gown.
-
the student and teaching body in a university or college town.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
any of various outer garments, such as a woman's elegant or formal dress, a dressing robe, or a protective garment, esp one worn by surgeons during operations
-
a loose wide garment indicating status, such as worn by academics
-
the members of a university as opposed to the other residents of the university town Compare town
verb
Synonym Usage
See dress.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of gown
1300–50; Middle English goune < Old French < Late Latin gunna fur or leather garment
Explanation
A gown is a formal dress. When your date to a party or dance is wearing a tuxedo, you'll probably want to wear a gown. There are many different kinds of gowns, including ball gowns, wedding gowns, and evening gowns. All of them are worn primarily by women on formal occasions. It was once common to call any one-piece woman's garment a gown, while now it's more often called a dress. The source of gown is the Old French goune, "robe, coat, or down," with the Latin root gunna, "hide or skin."
Vocabulary lists containing gown
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:
Would 19-year-old Mary be surprised to see her future self in a gown?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
A caregiver wore a protective gown and gloves as she bottle-fed a baby -- one of hundreds of children orphaned by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Right now, I barely want to wear a gown, this Mary right here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The woman’s bodice tied from the back, which meant someone had to help her into the gown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Afternoon arrived: Mrs. Fairfax assumed her best black satin gown, her gloves, and her gold watch; for it was her part to receive the company,—to conduct the ladies to their rooms, &c.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Elizabeth Debicki plays the queen bee, a bully born into high status as the doctor’s daughter, whose icy lavender gowns contrast crisply against Colman’s hand-knitted rags.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
We were surprised to find gorgeous gowns under $2,000 at Anthropologie, for example.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
It has a bridal shop overflowing with sparkly gowns and a coffee shop serving up lattes with Chinese symbols for happiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
In a sea of glamorous gowns and tuxedoes, Hacks star Megan Stalter, who was nominated for best comedy supporting actress, arrived on the Emmys blue carpet gilded as an Emmy statuette.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Their gowns are so wide, I have had to clear the path four times already for fear their skirts would knock me off into the shrubbery.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
