gown
Americannoun
-
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:
Last week, the actress Anne Hathaway attended the London premiere of “The Odyssey” wearing a flowy blue gown from Dior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
"We love love," she wrote, along with a selfie of herself in a slinky black Prada gown.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
He wore an all-white suit in the video, while his wife, singer Ashanti, donned a sparkling gown.
From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026
The series had just premiered its seventh episode in a packed theater, during which she wore a long red gown.
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
If I had a mind to, I could wear one and have enough room under my flared gown to hang strips of jerky out to dry!
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
The country entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a "perilous state" and was "simply not ready to compete" in the global race to secure new supplies, Hallett said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
French designer Paul Poiret looked to this history in the early 20th century when he began designing chic, architecturally inspired gowns that required no corsets or petticoats.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
If someone bought a quinceañera dress at her store, they would tell the mothers to shop for their gowns at his store.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
To keep the company’s roughly 20% return rate steady, it also charges a restocking fee—which it recently doubled to 20% of the purchase price, or higher for select designer gowns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Every speck of anything that might become a wedding memory, she tosses in there—stuff like jewelry designs and invitation ideas and flower arrangement choices and photos of gowns.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
