wardrobe
Americannoun
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wardrobes
plural
-
a stock of clothes or costumes, as of a person or of a theatrical company.
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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.
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the department of a royal or other great household charged with the care of wearing apparel.
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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
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a tall closet or cupboard, with a rail or hooks on which to hang clothes
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the total collection of articles of clothing belonging to one person
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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
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Academy Awards, List 5
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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:
The expansive private retreat includes its own sitting area, as well as separate bathrooms and generously sized wardrobe spaces.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Janet Arnold brings Elizabeth’s court to life with her revelatory transcription of the royal wardrobe accounts, including descriptions of 2,000 of the queen’s phantasmagorical dresses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Mackie, the fashion designer who died Monday at 87 years old, had taken inspiration from Cher’s wardrobe, sheathing Barbie in a sleek, gold-sequined gown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
She added that she is noticing "people are willing to spend a little bit more" on wardrobe staples and items that "wash well and are made of cotton, not acrylic or polyester".
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
With a brief demonstration, the wardrobe mistress showed Penelope how to stitch fresh feathers to the bare spots.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
The designers said in a note they wanted to "open the wardrobes of the great Sicilian families" and create a dialogue between "the precious and the everyday".
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
The police move from room to room, by torchlight - there's no power - opening wardrobes and lifting mattresses.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Consumers are experimenting more with fragrance and want to create their own scent wardrobes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Their wardrobes are more subtle, yet show that there are different strata in the quiet luxury landscape.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
She emptied the wardrobes of the house, taking the children’s clothes, the blankets from the beds, her husband’s jackets.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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
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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.
