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
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
In portraits in homes and classrooms, in photographs on the front page of the country’s main party newspaper, on lapel badges pinned over citizens’ hearts, Kim’s image became synonymous with the state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
He put his hand over the tiny green-and-white button he wore in his lapel.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
“That means notch lapels, button cuffs and pants with belt loops, as opposed to peak lapels, French cuffs and side adjusters.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 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
Her wide lapels could be reminiscent of the suiting of 1980s New York, a time and place when Melania's husband cut his teeth, but the silhouette is more sculpted and modern.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2025
For each decade, extract the essential silhouette and then distinguish the characters with collars, colors, lapels, fabrics and the occasional really great sweater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
We’d giggled into our lapels, and we laughed out loud now, remembering.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
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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.
