single-breasted

[sing-guh l-bres-tid]

adjective

(of a coat, jacket, etc.) having a front closure directly in the center with only a narrow overlap secured by a single button or row of buttons.

(of a suit) having a jacket or coat of this type.

Compare double-breasted.

Origin of single-breasted

First recorded in 1790–1800

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for single-breasted

Contemporary Examples of single-breasted

A double-breasted suit is more formal than a single-breasted one.
Herman Cain's Power Suit
Robin Givhan
November 4, 2011

Historical Examples of single-breasted

There was only one inconvenience in the single-breasted jacket.
In the Forbidden Land
Arnold Henry Savage Landor
Single-breasted waistcoats are smarter than double-breasted.
Riding and Driving for Women
Belle Beach
The overcoat has one outside and three inside pockets, and is single-breasted.
The Dreamers
John Kendrick Bangs
A short-waisted and single-breasted jacket usurped the place of the long-tailed coat, and became universal.
Detailed Minutiae of Soldier life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865
Carlton McCarthy
Even with the weight of the stuff, it was going to be a wrench to go back to single-breasted suits and plain white shirts.
That Sweet Little Old Lady
Gordon Randall Garrett (AKA Mark Phillips)

British Dictionary definitions for single-breasted

single-breasted

adjective

(of a garment) having the fronts overlapping only slightly and with one row of fastenings

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