tuxedo
Americannoun
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tuxedos
plural
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Also called dinner jacket. a man's jacket for semiformal evening dress, traditionally of black or dark-blue color and characteristically having satin or grosgrain facing on the lapels.
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the complete semiformal outfit, including this jacket, dark trousers, often with silk stripes down the sides, a bow tie, and usually a cummerbund.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tuxedo
1890–95, short for Tuxedo coat, after country club at Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
Explanation
Use the noun tuxedo to describe the dressy black suit that many men wear when they get married. It's not prom night without one of these formal jackets for men, which take their name from Tuxedo Park, New York, near New York City. The place name tuxedo, according to one line of etymological inquiry, is from an Algonquian word for "wolf," p'tuksit, while other scholars guess that it simply means "crooked river," p'tuck-sepo. Either way, a tuxedo today can also be called a dinner jacket or even the slangy "monkey suit," just for fun.
Vocabulary lists containing tuxedo
English Words Derived from Indigenous Languages of the Americas
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Aquatic, Waddle, and Plumage: Penguin Parlance
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Prom Time
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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:
If a man has forgotten a tie for his tuxedo, they have a collection to select from.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Among the pieces available were a vintage chest, tables, and chair, antique mirrors, hand-knotted rugs, a striped fabric tuxedo sofa, upholstered wing back chairs, “lots of fun lamps and chandeliers,” and several leather chairs.
From MarketWatch ● May 18, 2026
The King and president wore black tuxedo suits and white shirts.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
People published photos from their outdoor California ceremony, in which Steinfeld wore a white strapless gown, mesh gloves and her veil and Allen wore a traditional tuxedo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026
I had helped a lot, and I looked totally presentable in my tuxedo T-shirt, which was a real work of art.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
“They thought we were going to show up to play in tuxedos, that we would just make pretty plays,” Mbappé said after the Paraguay game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Sequined dresses mix with simple jeans, and tuxedos are sometimes worn with work boots.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
He recalled donning tuxedos and carrying toy guns pretending to be James Bond on a European yacht vacation and soaring over the Serengeti in a hot air balloon during an East African safari.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2026
Mr Machin said the firm was looking forward to a profitable Christmas period, and said sales were going well of its much-loved rose mulled wine, and men's washable tuxedos.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
Emmett and Jasper were intimidating and flawless in classic tuxedos.
From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
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.
