blouse
Americannoun
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a usually lightweight, loose-fitting garment for women and children, covering the body from the neck or shoulders more or less to the waistline, with or without a collar and sleeves, worn inside or outside a skirt, slacks, etc.
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a single-breasted, semifitted military jacket.
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a loose outer garment, reaching to the hip or thigh, or below the knee, and sometimes belted.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a woman's shirtlike garment made of cotton, nylon, etc
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a loose-fitting smocklike garment, often knee length and belted, worn esp by E European peasants
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a loose-fitting waist-length belted jacket worn by soldiers
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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blousesimple
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blousessimple
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have blousedperfect
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has blousedperfect
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am blousingprogressive
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are blousingprogressive
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is blousingprogressive
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have been blousingperfect progressive
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has been blousingperfect progressive
Past
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blousedsimple
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had blousedperfect
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was blousingprogressive
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were blousingprogressive
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had been blousingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blouse
1820–30; < French, perhaps from the phrase *vêtement de laine blouse garment of short (i.e., uncarded, pure) wool; compare Provençal ( lano ) blouso pure (wool) < Old High German blōz naked, cognate with Old English bleat poor, miserable
Explanation
A blouse is a shirt usually worn by a woman. Your grandmother's favorite silk blouse might have pearl buttons down the front. A dressy item of clothing worn on the top of the body, mainly by girls or women, is sometimes called a blouse. Some military and historical garments are also blouses, and you can use the word as a verb meaning "to puff out or hang in folds," the way many blouses do. In French the word means "workman or peasant's shirt," but beyond that its origin is mysterious.
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:
In college, I found a treadle machine in an empty dorm room, oiled it and made a blouse and quilt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
As police searched for the Tesla, they relayed details over the radio: The suspect’s hair was in braids; she wore a cream-colored blouse; her car was dirty on the bottom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2026
Malama Mulenga referred to the fugu as a ''maternity blouse'', Mwangala Imbula posted: ''Am coming to get that blouse'', while Master G wrote ''We love our blouse brothers''.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026
Her standard work outfit is a “beige skirt, pale pink blouse, black pumps.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026
For me, it would be a pair of white jean shorts with a black lace peplum blouse.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
The company has tried to offer more products beyond jeans — such as dresses, blouses and other items geared toward women — as well as modern riffs on old favorites like 501s.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Their 1998 “Stromboli” collection revolved around a Christian theme, a Marian procession, and dresses, tunics and blouses featuring Marian imagery.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
The house must also have two separate workshops: a "tailleur" workshop for structured, architectural garments such as jackets, coats and trousers, and a "flou" workshop for soft, fluid pieces such as dresses or blouses.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
"We had to wear these awful BBC Two blouses," Ms Brown said.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025
Their blouses had buttons missing and were fastened with safety pins.
From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko
The men are variously clothed in bloused tops and tights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Where the small was just that in the chest, and ever so slightly too short in the arms, the medium bloused out a bit at the waist.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2015
He would see, not tuxedos and silk hats, but bloused men and girls in coarse sleeveless gowns.
From Time Magazine Archive
Emanuel Ungaro's Moroccan striped minidresses are bloused at the hips with yarn belts and designed to be worn over red or green tights.
From Time Magazine Archive
His trousers settled well on his hips and his white shirt bloused over his belt.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Failing to master synchronized heel pivots of marching drills or proper blousing of his pants, he received the most chits of any of his classmates and was punished repeatedly.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2018
And at the time when the front of every woman's waist fell far below her belt in a copiously blousing sag, Mrs. Marshall's trim tautness had in it something horrifying.
From The Bent Twig by Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
Her eyes had something of their old-time sparkle as she reached inside the blousing front of her flannel shirt and laid in Mrs. Toomey’s hand a packet of crisp banknotes secured by bands of elastic.
From The Fighting Shepherdess by Lockhart, Caroline
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.
