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:
It’s all stilettos and tuxes and gowns and pricey surgery and shiny tuxedo loafers in there, and in the White House.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
When he won the Fields Medal last week, Jacob Tsimerman accepted the most prestigious honor in math wearing a powder-blue tuxedo with satin lapels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 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
Most have never seen him without a proper collar shirt and dress pants, or a formal tuxedo suit.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Guests in tuxedos and gowns entered the hotel through checkpoints on the surrounding streets by showing a dinner ticket or a copy of an invite to one of several predinner receptions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Sequined dresses mix with simple jeans, and tuxedos are sometimes worn with work boots.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 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
Instead guests in elaborate gowns and tuxedos discreetly glanced at their phones propped on tables and at the base of flower vases across the star-packed venue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2025
The place was packed because a popular konpa band had a ten o’clock show scheduled at the reception hall next door and some older couples in sequined dresses and tuxedos stopped in for dinner first.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
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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.
