suite

[sweet or for 3 often, soot]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR suite ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a number of things forming a series or set.

a connected series of rooms to be used together: a hotel suite.

a set of furniture, especially a set comprising the basic furniture necessary for one room: a bedroom suite.

a company of followers or attendants; a train or retinue.

Music.

an ordered series of instrumental dances, in the same or related keys, commonly preceded by a prelude.
an ordered series of instrumental movements of any character.

Computers. a group of software programs sold as a unit and usually designed to work together.

Origin of suite

1665–75; < French, apparently metathetic variant of Old French siute (see suit); akin to sue, suitor

Can be confusedsuit suitesuite sweet

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

Related Words for suite

apartment, rental, collection, lodging, body, flat, set, group, parcel, series, batch, tenement, lot, array, court, cortege, retinue, faculty, escort

Examples from the Web for suite

Contemporary Examples of suite

When we get into his suite, he collapses on the couch and begins drinking tequila again.
The Stacks: Mr. Bad Taste and Trouble Himself: Robert Mitchum
Robert Ward
July 19, 2014
In another black-and-white shot, they are boyishly sprawled on the rose-printed carpet of their suite, reading piles of fan mail.
The Man Who Captured the Beatles Magic
Chantel Tattoli
June 16, 2014
Then there are a suite of tools that can operate at the kind of depth we're talking about, I believe between 4000-5000 meters.
James Cameron on How to Find Flight MH370, Climate Change, Leonardo DiCaprio, and More
Marlow Stern
April 12, 2014
Also inside the suite was Peter Greste, an award-winning Australian correspondent who was working for the same network.
Egypt: Al Jazeera Had ‘Marriott Cell’ Of Terror
Alastair Beach
February 6, 2014
At the door a couple is entwined on the floor blocking my departure from the suite.
My Night at the NSFW Oscars
Richard Abowitz
January 22, 2014

Historical Examples of suite

"She is going to have part of my suite at Harlowe House," said Grace.
Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus
Jessie Graham Flower
The Harlows wanted a suite, and they couldn't afford to take one.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson
I stopped a minute before entering the Prefect's suite of rooms.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
They formed a suite of three apartments of very simple aspect.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
Has he been enabled to travel in his suite as far as Venice?
Albert Durer
T. Sturge Moore

British Dictionary definitions for suite

suite

noun

a series of items intended to be used together; set

a number of connected rooms in a hotel forming one living unitthe presidential suite

a matching set of furniture, esp of two armchairs and a settee

a number of attendants or followers

music

an instrumental composition consisting of several movements in the same key based on or derived from dance rhythms, esp in the baroque period
an instrumental composition in several movements less closely connected than a sonata
a piece of music containing movements based on or extracted from music already used in an opera, ballet, play, etc

Word Origin for suite

C17: from French, from Old French sieute; see suit

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

Word Origin and History for suite

1670s, "train of followers or attendants," from French suite, from Old French suite "act of following, attendance" (see suit). The meanings "set of instrumental compositions" (1680s), "connected set of rooms" (1716), and "set of furniture" (1805) were borrowed from French or re-spelled from suit on the French model.

suite in Culture

suite

[(sweet)]

A group of related pieces of music or movements played in sequence. In the baroque era, a suite was a succession of different kinds of dances. In more recent times, suites have contained excerpts from longer works, such as ballets, or have simply portrayed a scene, as in Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite.