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Synonyms

gussied up

Idioms  

  1. Also, all gussied up. Dressed up, as in Dana loves to get all gussied up and go to a fine restaurant. The origin of this expression is not clear, though possibly it relates to the earlier use of the noun gussie (derived from a proper name) for an effeminate man. [Slang; mid-1900s]

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.

They were all gussied up for Gun Prom, an annual fundraiser that draws hundreds of firearm enthusiasts from across Southern California to talk, auction and celebrate guns.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 7, 2023

On the bar food, staples of vermicelli noodles and sandwiches get gussied up with marbled beef and other high end meats.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 17, 2023

I especially love it with breadcrumbs, roasted root vegetables, as a topper for soups or gussied up with fresh herbs, garlic and cream before being doused over a cheese-laden roasted chicken breast.

From Salon • Nov. 29, 2022

Bad taste is bad business when you are in the magnificence trade, but the phenomenon of lumpenroyalty — Faulkner’s Snopes family gussied up for endless pageantry — is not new.

From Washington Post • Sep. 8, 2022

I was already picturing Nan’s brace gussied up, though she wasn’t one for sequins—maybe silver studs.

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry

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.