formal evening dress for men (distinguished from black tie).
a white bow tie for men, worn with formal evening dress.
a white bow tie worn as part of a man's formal evening dress
formal evening dress for men
( as modifier )
a white-tie occasion
First recorded in 1950–55
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Trump loves to dress up in white tie and tails to hob-nob with the royals.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
Guests, which also included Republican lawmakers and several Fox personalities, wore white tie and enjoyed a three-course meal that included ravioli with herbs from the White House garden and Dover sole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
He stands at 6ft2in, has a stocky build and grey hair and was last seen wearing a long black trench coat, grey trousers and waistcoat, blue shirt, brown shoes and a red and white tie.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2025
Before the Japan Fair this year, emcee Tomo Hoku Angie gave him a white tie and pocket square patterned with mini hearts and illustrations of pink origami cranes.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Championship tournament, he was dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, a custom-made white shirt, a Sulka white tie, and Italian-made shoes.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Saturday evening, more than 600 Washington VIPs, including administration officials, lawmakers, reporters and editors gather for the annual white-tie Gridiron Dinner.
From Reuters ● Mar. 15, 2023
Later, the King will host a glittering white-tie banquet at Buckingham Palace for President Ramaphosa where both men will give speeches.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2022
Said world’s richest man, Elon Musk, was actually there, in a white-tie tux “like I’m from ‘Downton Abbey’ or something,” and joking about using the night to find investors.
From Washington Post ● May 2, 2022
The Met’s opening night is a marker of the start of New York’s social season, a series of white-tie and black-tie gatherings that was largely skipped in 2020-21.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2021
For Britain, of course, that would be Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, who welcomed him to Buckingham Palace last year with an 82-gun salute and a lavish white-tie state banquet.
From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2020
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.
