jacket
Americannoun
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jackets
plural
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a short coat, in any of various forms, usually opening down the front.
-
something designed to be placed around the upper part of the body for a specific purpose other than use as clothing.
a life jacket.
-
a protective outer covering.
-
the skin of a potato, especially when it has been cooked.
-
the cover of a paperbound book, usually bearing an illustration.
-
a paper or cardboard envelope for protecting a phonograph record.
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a metal casing, as the steel covering of a cannon, the steel cover around the core of a bullet, or the water jacket on certain types of machine guns.
-
a folded paper or open envelope containing an official document.
verb (used with object)
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jackets,
present (3rd person singular)
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jacketed,
past participle, past
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jacketing
present participle
noun
-
a short coat, esp one that is hip-length and has a front opening and sleeves
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something that resembles this or is designed to be worn around the upper part of the body
a life jacket
-
any exterior covering or casing, such as the insulating cover of a boiler
-
the part of the cylinder block of an internal-combustion engine that encloses the coolant
-
See dust jacket
-
-
the skin of a baked potato
-
( as modifier )
jacket potatoes
-
-
a metal casing used in certain types of ammunition
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Brit name: sleeve. a cover to protect a gramophone record
-
a folder or envelope to hold documents
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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underjacketnoun
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jacket-likeadjective
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jacketedadjective
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jacketlessadjective
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jacketlikeadjective
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unjacketedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jacketsimple
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jacketssimple
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have jacketedperfect
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has jacketedperfect
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am jacketingprogressive
-
are jacketingprogressive
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is jacketingprogressive
-
have been jacketingperfect progressive
-
has been jacketingperfect progressive
Past
-
jacketedsimple
-
had jacketedperfect
-
was jacketingprogressive
-
were jacketingprogressive
-
had been jacketingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jacket
1425–75; late Middle English jaket < Middle French ja ( c ) quet, equivalent to jaque jack 4 + -et -et
Explanation
A jacket is a lightweight or cropped coat. Most jackets end at your waist or hips, while coats can be much longer. If you have outerwear made of denim or leather, feel free to call them jackets. Jackets are generally long-sleeved and fasten with zippers, snaps, or buttons down the front. Other meanings of jacket generally include the sense of "outer covering," like a book jacket or the insulating jacket around your house's pipes. The word comes from the Middle French jaquet, "short coat with sleeves," from the Old French jacque, "tunic."
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:
"Augusta has given me some of the greatest moments of my life, and I'd love nothing more than to chase another green jacket at such a special place."
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
It has since become the engine of his family’s routine: waterslides for the kids, Pilates for his wife and a casual restaurant bar for Rogers and his friends—no jacket required.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
While it offers casual BBQ and bourbon nights, it also has “Throwback Thursdays” with white tablecloths and jacket requirements for traditionalists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Those foundations can begin with something as simple as learning to put on a jacket, a common milestone for a preschooler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
A tall kid with long black hair wearing a sheepskin-lined jean jacket, big silver belt buckle, and a black cowboy hat was looking around the grounds, obviously befuddled.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
One of them is this place called Golden Age that has all these old French tour jackets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Tracksuit bottoms, jackets, hoodies and T-shirts sit untouched.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Video footage apparently taken by a member of the public and posted to X showed several agents wearing HSI jackets outside Omar's Washington residence.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
It’s also branching beyond jeans into ’90s throwbacks like slip dresses, baby tees and leather jackets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Insectile limbs stuck out from a few of the jackets, and mandibles clicked from grossly wide mouths.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Crossing a room, the jacketed general manager paused to hold a wine glass up to a light, making sure it was clean.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2023
Meanwhile, one of the jacketed bartenders will almost certainly be bending over a shaker or holding it in the air.
From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2021
Shooting a 160-grain jacketed bullet at almost 2,000 feet per second, it was a speed demon at the time.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 14, 2020
The open kitchen was crowded, too, as a crew of jacketed cooks prepped and flipped patties.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 2, 2017
I said what I was against was strait- jacketed thinking, and strait-jacketed societies.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
The students have been asked to design a new fabric to be used for menswear sport jacketing.
From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2023
Book jackets so seldom reflect the nature of what they are jacketing that Philippe Halsman's photo for this collection of Author Moravia's short stories deserves attention.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ornamental brass jacketing was extensively used on mid-19th-century American locomotives to cover not only the cylinders but steam and sand boxes, check valves, and valve boxes.
From The 'Pioneer': Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851 United States Bulletin 240, Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology, paper 42, 1964 by John H. White
If the sphere is charged and then the jacketing hemispheres fitted on it and removed, the sphere is found to be perfectly discharged.3 Numerous other demonstrations of this fact were given by Faraday.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 "Electrostatics" to "Engis" by Various
The object of jacketing is to prevent the loss of heat from the steam within the cylinder by radiation.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Joshua Rose
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