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.
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So, for example, we see a pair of virtually identical 1961 portraits of a man in a white tuxedo, his face shaded with red flecks that are clearly made by hand when viewed up close.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
They affixed headshot cutouts of their parents from photos and placed them above paper cutouts of a wedding dress and a tuxedo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
In photos shared by the couple, Booysen can be seen wearing a floor length lace wedding dress with a floral pattern, while Donaldson opted for a white tuxedo.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The MacArthur “genius grant” winner sparkled with sartorial edge as he strutted across the stage in a white tuxedo shirt to discuss his book “Emperor of Gladness.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
The figure in its tuxedo and derby hat, with a rolled-up waiter’s apron in a neat packet under its arm, seemed like life itself to Francie.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
She has received discounts on some items, like candles, while others—including invitations, bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen tuxedos, even her wedding gown—were free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Sequined dresses mix with simple jeans, and tuxedos are sometimes worn with work boots.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
Nearly 30 inmates, selected for good behavior, donned tuxedos with pink boutonnieres and waited as daughters, some dressed in formal gowns, were led into the prison’s Bible college transformed into a makeshift dance hall.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
