worsted
Americannoun
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firmly twisted yarn or thread spun from combed, stapled wool fibers of the same length, for weaving, knitting, etc.
-
wool cloth woven from such yarns, having a hard, smooth surface and no nap.
adjective
noun
-
a closely twisted yarn or thread made from combed long-staple wool
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a fabric made from this, with a hard smooth close-textured surface and no nap
-
(modifier) made of this yarn or fabric
a worsted suit
Other Word Forms
- half-worsted adjective
Etymology
Origin of worsted
1250–1300; Middle English worsted ( e ), special use of Worstede Worstead ( Old English Wurthestede ), name of parish in Norfolk, England, where the cloth was made
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.
He often mixed silk and wool or silk and linen for a softer alternative to the heavy, stiff gabardines and worsted wools that were typical for men’s suits and jackets.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 4, 2025
Rolls upon rolls of flannel, worsted wool and cashmere are stacked in a space the size of a football field.
From Washington Post • Nov. 20, 2017
She took photographs and wrote poetry; in 1938, The New York Times published her ode to “a day for dreaming in the sun, for telling worsted tales, for languid ease.”
From New York Times • May 26, 2016
It's made at Alfred Brown worsted mills, a century-old family business in Bramley in Leeds.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 2016
This man was as notable as the sycamore, far he stood or lay seven feet without his shoes, and he was dressed in nothing but a kind of kilt made of Lincoln green worsted.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
