zoot suit

American  

[zoot] / zut /

noun

1. a man's suit with baggy, tight-cuffed, sometimes high-waisted trousers and an oversized jacket with exaggeratedly broad, padded shoulders and wide lapels, often worn with suspenders and a long watch chain and first popularized in the early 1940s.

---

zoot suit British  

/ zuːt /

noun

1. slang a man's suit consisting of baggy trousers with very tapered bottoms and a long jacket with wide padded shoulders, popular esp in the US in the 1940s

---

Other Word Forms

• zoot-suiter
  noun

Etymology

Origin of zoot suit

1940–45, rhyming compound based on suit

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

zoot suit

Elsewhere, we check in on how a freshly liberated Mitch McConnell is putting on his zoot suit and spats and living it up a little.

From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2024

But he says that a certain flamboyance redolent of the drape suit — and, by extension, the zoot suit — lingered.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023

Naturally, its boldness and popularity made the zoot suit a target.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023

The origin story of the zoot suit is one of a few facts and a whole lot of lore.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2023

With my wild zoot suit I wore the yellow knob-toe shoes, and I frizzled my hair up into a reddish bush of conk.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey