panties

American

[pan-teez] / ˈpæn tiz /

noun

(used with a plural verb)

underpants or undershorts for women and children.

panties British

/ ˈpæntɪz /

plural noun

a pair of women's or children's underpants

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of panties

1835–45, plural of panty

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.

“You pull up your big-girl panties and you do what you got to do,” Applegate says.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026

He also poked fun at Harry Styles' fashion sense, joking: "Women throw their panties at this man, then he puts them on and looks better in them."

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2023

“You can’t fake this. It’s not a time to put on your big-girl panties and just deal with it. This music is my foundational life journey.”

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2023

Bradford told Logan, "You need to get some new underwear, Butterball," something she had discovered after finding tattered panties in the laundry.

From Salon • Nov. 22, 2022

She didn’t have to go to jail over silk panties after all.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023