tweedy

American  

[twee-dee] / ˈtwi di /

adjective

tweedier, tweediest

1. made of or resembling tweed, as in texture, appearance, or the like.

2. wearing or favoring tweeds, especially as a mark of a casual, sporty, or intellectual way of life, as at college or in the country.

   a tweedy sportswoman.

3. accustomed to, preferring, or characterized by the wearing of tweeds, as in genteel country life or academia.

   a large and tweedy colony of civil servants and government officials.

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tweedy British  

/ ˈtwiːdɪ /

adjective

1. of, made of, or resembling tweed

2. showing a fondness for a hearty outdoor life, usually associated with wearers of tweeds

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Other Word Forms

• tweediness
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of tweedy

First recorded in 1910–15; tweed + -y ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tweedy tweedier tweediest

In “Sherlock & Daughter,” Thewlis’ cranky, clipped performance spells out why so few venture to peel back the tweedy front he places between himself and everyone else.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2025

But his tweedy and serenely skeptical Beckett double pointedly inquires, “Whose forgiveness do you need the most?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2024

At the time, I seemed to be a youngish, tweedy English professor.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022

With its mixture of tweedy understatement and strong feelings, it showed Queen Elizabeth having to adjust to changed times, filling in the unspoken gaps, in a way that humanised the Royal Family.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2022

Freak is all dressed up, too, he's wearing this tweedy new suit jacket that has patches on the elbows and Grim says all he needs is a pipe and he'll look like quite the professor.

From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick

As Dwight Garner wrote for Salon at the time, the drawn-out process provoked as much anxiety, secrecy, envy, electioneering, and backbiting as an Oscars campaign, only on a smaller and tweedier scale.

From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2017

Change is also afoot at Esquire, the tweediest of the men’s titles, which for decades carried a whiff of dad’s old cedar chest full of pocketknives and Mickey Mantle baseball cards.

From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2019

Once the province of only the tweediest British country gentlemen, custom-made shotguns have become a preferred extravagance of the rich, famous and hip.

From Forbes ● Oct. 19, 2010

For daytime wear, Artist Belcher chose the tweediest of hunting tweeds or else a funereal black cape and high satin stock.

From Time Magazine Archive

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