undress
Americanverb (used with object)
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undresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
undressed,
past participle, past
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undrest,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
undressing
present participle
-
to take the clothes off (a person); disrobe.
-
to remove the dressing from (a wound, sore, etc.).
-
to strip or divest of or as if of a covering; expose.
to undress a pretense.
verb (used without object)
-
undresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
undressed,
past participle, past
-
undrest,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
undressing
present participle
noun
-
dress of a style designed to be worn on other than highly formal or ceremonial occasions; informal dress as opposed to full dress.
-
dress of a style not designed to be worn in public; dishabille; negligee.
She couldn't receive guests in such a state of undress.
-
the condition of being unclothed; nakedness.
adjective
-
of or relating to clothing of a style less formal than full dress.
undress uniform.
-
characterized by informality of dress, manners, or the like.
an undress dinner party.
verb
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to take off clothes from (oneself or another)
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(tr) to strip of ornamentation
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(tr) to remove the dressing from (a wound)
noun
-
partial or complete nakedness
-
informal or normal working clothes or uniform
adjective
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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undresssimple
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undressessimple
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have undressedperfect
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have undrestperfect
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has undressedperfect
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has undrestperfect
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am undressingprogressive
-
are undressingprogressive
-
is undressingprogressive
-
have been undressingperfect progressive
-
has been undressingperfect progressive
Past
-
undressedsimple
-
undrestsimple
-
had undressedperfect
-
had undrestperfect
-
was undressingprogressive
-
were undressingprogressive
-
had been undressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of undress
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:
“I think we achieved it, but along the way, we had to undress the character’s successes and failures, many of which had consequences in his life,” Gómez Fernandez says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
They further claim that, once in the home, the men were told to undress in the kitchen, and then to warm their hands with hot water or on a radiator.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2024
“I had to undress to my underwear for a short period, it was very uncomfortable. They did not want to let me use the bathroom, for example.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 4, 2023
Before she left the hospital, Ms. García said she was told to undress for an examination.
From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2021
I did not have to turn on the light to undress.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
“Part of what the motion does is it undresses what you’re in, so it forces your hand a little bit,” McDermott said.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
It’s only when Agnes undresses that persona — in a calculated and tense final scene reminiscent of the imbroglio in the recent piece “Bad Art Friend” — that the narrator can see her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2021
Behind the curtain of biography, betrayal and striving, “Fosse/Verdon” undresses into a story about haunted people, a pair of artists inexorably pushed by past abuses and the fear of failure they produced.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2019
He undresses himself using a gadget Devon created from a basket, weights and hooks.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2018
She starts taking out books and her computer from her bag before she even undresses.
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
"I got undressed and went outside to wash myself."
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
A nurse asks me to get undressed from the waist up and put on a gown with the opening in front.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Of course, the suggestion was unserious but it usefully if frontally undressed a reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
"We will carefully assess these changes to make sure they effectively protect citizens in the EU," European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in a statement, which followed sharp criticism over the nonconsensual undressed images.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
Olanna called Baby and took her inside and undressed her.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Enter Leticia and Phillis softly, undrest, with a Box.
From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III by Montague Summers
She was soon undrest; for she had no jewels to deposit in their caskets, nor fine laces to fold with the nicest exactness.
From Joseph Andrews, Volume 2 by Henry Fielding
The chief was eating an undrest onion, and seated on an old table, dangling his legs underneath, with a vacant thoughtlessness of manner, which their abrupt intrusion somewhat dissipated.
From Lander's Travels The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa by Robert Huish
In our Chamber, found her alreadie half undrest, a reading of her Bible; sayd, "Father tooke your briefe Good-nighte amisse."
From Mary Powell & Deborah's Diary by Anne Manning
I have undrest myself, and Sibby is going to comb my hair.
From Journal of a Young Lady of Virginia, 1782 by Lucinda Lee Orr
A student movement organisation first published the video of the arrest, reporting that Ms Daryaei had an altercation with security agents over not wearing a headscarf, leading to her undressing during the scuffle.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2024
Where “Ghost World” was concerned with its own quirky hipness and “Paris” with undressing its women, Park’s “Shortcomings” feels immediate and personal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
Rapp testified at a deposition that there was no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes and no sexualized statements or innuendo during an encounter that lasted no more than two minutes, the judge said.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2022
Arians said after the game that wide receiver Antonio Brown is "no longer a Buc" after undressing on the field before storming off to the locker room during the third quarter.
From Fox News ● Jan. 2, 2022
Nor could I see the necessity for the complete undressing: when we finally reached the examining room a doctor looked down each throat, another—a dentist presumably—at our teeth, a third in between each finger.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
