lapel
Americannoun
-
lapels
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lapel
Explanation
A lapel is the front part of a jacket or suit coat that's folded back. Your jacket's lapel is connected to your collar. Fancy or dressy men's clothing tends to have lapels — the tuxedo you wear to your uncle's wedding might have a satin lapel, for example. The suits that businessmen (and often women) wear also have lapels. Lapels come in different shapes and widths, although they almost always have a buttonhole on the left side, originally intended for wearing a flower. These days only prom- and wedding-goers tend to stick a flower in their lapel.
Vocabulary lists containing lapel
Fallen Angels
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All My Sons
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Nine Stories
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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.
See Examples For:
As he’s spoken to audiences of government officials, diplomats, academics and journalists, Dans — who wears his Arctic commission lapel pin and exudes a professorial air — has also waded into foreign policy.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
Iran players arrived in Tijuana on Sunday wearing gold-colored lapel pins on their jackets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Gautam Tamboliya, a 21-year-old student from India’s Haryana state, carried India’s national flag and wore a lapel pin with an image of a cockroach on it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
Massie is a throwback libertarian who, in lieu of the standard lawmaker flag pin, wears on his lapel a national debt clock that he programmed himself.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
Then, with terrible composure, he stepped back and absently dragged the hand across his chest, smearing mud upon his lapel, his tie, the starched immaculate white of his shirt.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
When he won the Fields Medal last week, Jacob Tsimerman accepted the most prestigious honor in math wearing a powder-blue tuxedo with satin lapels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
He became a fixture on television news, wearing either military style tactical gear or a long, double-breasted green overcoat with wide lapels that critics said was meant to echo Nazi German military garb.
From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026
Other Guardsmen wore their sympathies on their sleeves and lapels: pro-striker buttons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
This layering was not just about warmth but also about creating a rich, textural narrative — sweaters upon shirts, coats layered on coats, all accentuated by large lapels and dramatic, upturned collars.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
My father wears a cream suit with wide black lapels.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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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.
