wardrobe
Americannoun
-
a stock of clothes or costumes, as of a person or of a theatrical company.
-
a piece of furniture for holding clothes, now usually a tall, upright case fitted with hooks, shelves, etc.
-
a room or place in which to keep clothes or costumes.
-
the department of a royal or other great household charged with the care of wearing apparel.
-
a department in a motion-picture or television studio in charge of supplying and maintaining costumes.
Report to wardrobe right after lunch.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a tall closet or cupboard, with a rail or hooks on which to hang clothes
-
the total collection of articles of clothing belonging to one person
-
the collection of costumes belonging to a theatre or theatrical company
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wardrobe
1250–1300; Middle English warderobe < Anglo-French. See ward (v.), robe
Explanation
All of the clothes in your closet make up your wardrobe. If you're tired of your wardrobe, it just might be time to go shopping. From the words warder, meaning “to protect”, and robe, meaning a “piece of clothing,” wardrobe originally meant an entire room where a person's clothing was stored. Nowadays, most people don’t have an entire room for their clothes, so the word wardrobe has downsized to just a large cabinet, or the clothing itself. A wardrobe can also be the costumes (or the costume department) of a theater company or movie.
Vocabulary lists containing wardrobe
The Ottoman Empire: Furniture Words
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Academy Awards, List 5
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
But this deadly addition to her wardrobe is not the only change for Rhaenyra this season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
We look at options to make it a summer wardrobe staple.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
When I was 17, I started an internship at the now-revered magazine Sassy, where I hoped, also secretly, that I might glean some wardrobe intel from the staff of cool twentysomething women.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
Meghan recently called Lilibet "Mama's little helper", after posting an image of them in what looks like a walk-in wardrobe, where the duchess is trying on a coat while her daughter is crouched down nearby.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Next door, I hear her opening her wardrobe, riffling through hangers, humming something tuneless.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
Hidden compartments built into two of the bedroom wardrobes were uncovered, containing approximately £1.4m.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Narratively, their characters — a heroine and her nemesis — shouldn’t dress as though they could swap wardrobes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Now they are expected to change the way people dress as they lose weight, with GLP-1 users potentially spending billions more each year to refresh their wardrobes, Bernstein analysts said.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026
According to Boston Consulting Group, the share of secondhand goods in shoppers’ wardrobes has risen 7 percentage points to 28% since 2020.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
First, Petra wrote down the titles of the books Calder remembered from Mrs. Sharpe’s bag, then Calder sketched the standing wardrobes.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
Before taking part in the ceremony, he’s wardrobed in “traditional” attire, which the British have crafted based on Indian drawings.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2018
A woman dressed as a sailboat stood proudly on one side; several others wardrobed like giant Gerbera daisies — their lean green-suited bodies topped with giant multi-petal hats.
From Washington Post
Not that he thinks the solution lies in wardrobing.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 16, 2023
Aside from wardrobing Tom Cruise in “Vanilla Sky” as well as providing clothes for several “Mission: Impossible” and James Bond movies, Varvatos has largely stayed out of Hollywood until now.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2019
Others accept behavior such as "wardrobing" — in which customers buy an item, use it and then return it — as a hazard of doing business.
From Chicago Tribune ● Feb. 2, 2014
Some of these result from a practice known as wardrobing, in which a shopper buys a garment for a particular event, then returns it once the event is over.
From New York Times ● Jul. 10, 2010
Her name recognition soared after she spent a season wardrobing contestants for the hit TV reality show Star Factory.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
