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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Nine Stories
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All My Sons
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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:
Secular Israelis were prepared with a counter-protest, blowing whistles to drown out the chants and with some wearing pink lapel buttons showing a middle finger.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 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
With Trump’s planned attendance Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, some reporters have said they’ll wear pocket handkerchiefs or lapel pins prominently displaying the words of the First Amendment.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
The pale green-and-white button was fastened 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
People lined the streets of downtown Los Angeles, chanting and cheering for the strikers, many of whom wore American flag lapels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
Show host Jo Koy, Christian Friedel, Matty Matheson, Daniel Pemberton and Justin Hartley all went wide on the lapels of their tuxedos.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2024
He has me by the lapels, his face right in mine.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
