skirt
Americannoun
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skirts
plural
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the part of a gown, dress, slip, or coat that extends downward from the waist.
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a one-piece garment extending downward from the waist and not joined between the legs, worn especially by women and girls.
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some part resembling or suggesting the skirt of a garment, as the flared lip of a bell or a protective and ornamental cloth strip covering the legs of furniture.
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a small leather flap on each side of a saddle, covering the metal bar from which the stirrup hangs.
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Building Trades.
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Also called apron. Furniture.
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a flat horizontal brace set immediately beneath the seat of a chair, chest of drawers, or the like, to strengthen the legs.
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Also called bed, frieze. a flat brace or support immediately beneath a tabletop.
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Usually skirts the bordering, marginal, or outlying part of a place, group, etc.; the outskirts.
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Older Slang: Usually Disparaging and Offensive. a term used to refer to a woman or girl.
to chase some skirt;
a skirt chaser.
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Rocketry. an outer part of a rocket or missile that provides structural support or houses such systems as avionics or gyroscopes.
verb (used with object)
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skirts,
present (3rd person singular)
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skirted,
past participle, past
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skirting
present participle
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to lie on or along the border of.
The hills skirt the town.
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to border, wrap, or cover with a skirt or something suggesting a skirt in appearance or function.
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to pass along or around the border or edge of.
Traffic skirts the town.
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to avoid, go around the edge of, or keep distant from (something that is controversial, risky, etc.).
The senator skirted the issue.
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to remove low-grade wool and foreign matter from (the outer edge of fleece).
verb (used without object)
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skirts,
present (3rd person singular)
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skirted,
past participle, past
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skirting
present participle
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to be or lie on or along the edge of something.
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to move along or around the border of something.
noun
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a garment hanging from the waist, worn chiefly by women and girls
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the part of a dress below the waist
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Also called: apron. a frieze or circular flap, as round the base of a hovercraft
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the flaps on a saddle that protect a rider's legs
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a cut of beef from the flank
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(often plural) a margin or outlying area
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the lower part of a sheep's fleece
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slang a girl or woman
verb
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(tr) to form the edge of
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(tr) to provide with a border
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to pass (by) or be situated (near) the outer edge of (an area, etc)
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(tr) to avoid (a difficulty, etc)
he skirted the issue
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to remove the trimmings or inferior wool from (a fleece)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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skirtsimple
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skirtssimple
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have skirtedperfect
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has skirtedperfect
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am skirtingprogressive
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are skirtingprogressive
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is skirtingprogressive
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have been skirtingperfect progressive
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has been skirtingperfect progressive
Past
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skirtedsimple
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had skirtedperfect
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was skirtingprogressive
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were skirtingprogressive
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had been skirtingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skirt
1250–1300; Middle English skirte < Old Norse skyrta shirt
Explanation
Unlike pants, which fully cover each of your legs separately, a skirt is basically a single piece of fabric covering part of your legs. If you want to show a little leg, wear a skirt! Skirts can be very short (like a miniskirt) or so long they drag on the ground. Long ago, skirt was also rude slang for a young woman. As a verb, skirt means "go around," like when you skirt a city instead of driving straight through it. The word outskirts, "outer parts or fringes" is related.
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:
“I just want to make it very clear that I’m not here to skirt the law or make excuses,” he said, as one of his family members cried in the gallery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Oman sits across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, and ships seeking to skirt Tehran's restrictions have recently been taking a route that hugs the Omani coast.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
One featured K-pop star Karina clutching a pair of the brand’s classic high-top black sneakers by her side and wearing a white skirt, with a star spotlight in center frame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Sanon, who is seen in a cropped top, skirt and a cape, addressed her critics on Tuesday night saying "culture and traditions are in a woman's heart, not in her neckline!"
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
I would have Anna, and I knew by the small N Maggie had drawn over her skirt that there was going to be a baby, and she meant to name her Nory.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Top clients can now commission custom-made versions of skirts from the archives, tailored to their measurements and specifications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
As early as 1815, the flooded young pueblo had to hoist its skirts and move up to higher ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Such restraint today seems as quaint as poodle skirts and “I Love Lucy.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Donations in Tavistock included branded and unbranded jumpers, shirts, skirts, dresses, wet weather clothing, shoes, lunchboxes and trousers.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Now that they were standing, their skirts were high enough that Clara could see their clawed feet.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Hawaii has been hit by flash floods and mudslides that have swept away homes after category one Hurricane Lala skirted Big Island over the weekend, leaving one person dead.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Hawaii was menaced by Hurricane Fausto last month, before the storm weakened and skirted north of the island chain.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Economists say carmakers have either shortened or skirted the usual temporary summer layoffs to retool their plants because of robust sales.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
Each time the Storm drove down the court, there was Johnson, her ponytail fluttering as she skirted around the arc before driving into the paint, nonchalantly tossing up layups as if it was still shootaround.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
We skirted the yellow circles around the bottoms of the streetlights, running past the steps of shops and apartment buildings.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
From Fair Isle knitting to spinning, fleece preparation, weaving, lace knitting to wool skirting, there is a huge range for visitors to discover.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Reports, including in technology outlet The Information, say DeepSeek has been skirting a US ban on the export of top-end chips to China to train its new V4 model.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
Just over a three-hour drive south, skirting the Rhine until you hit the Swiss border, heading into an Alpine gateway towards the turquoise waters of Lake Thun, footballing folklore is being scribed.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
The two-lane loop threads its way among forests and A-frames and cabins, skirting the waters of June Lake and the lake’s village, which is only a few blocks long.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2026
Most people, he noticed, were skirting him in the corridors, avoiding his eyes.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
