Dress Meaning

/dɹes/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

verbTo put clothes (or, formerly, armour) on (oneself or someone, a doll, a mannequin, etc.); to clothe.

verbTo put clothes (or, formerly, armour) on (oneself or someone, a doll, a mannequin, etc.); to clothe., To attire (oneself or someone) for a particular (especially formal) occasion, or in a fashionable manner.

Evening dress is desired.
You didn't have to dress.
I got this dress cheap in a sale.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a long red ____ to the formal dinner party.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Evening ____ is desired.

PIE word *dwís The verb is from Middle English dressen, dresse (“to arrange, put in order”), from Anglo-Norman, Old French dresser, drecier (modern French dresser), from Late Latin *dīrēctiāre (“to guide, direct”), from Classical Latin dīrēctus, whence English direct. Further akin to Latin regō. The noun is derived from the verb. Compare typologically adorn (<< Latin ōrnō < ōrdō, whence also ōrdinō, English order, ornament); Russian наряжа́ть (narjažátʹ), наря́д (narjád) (akin to ряд (rjad), поря́док (porjádok)).

"O rich! rich! vvhere ſhould I get clothes to dreſſe her in?" — 1606 (date written), [Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher], The Woman Hater. […], London: […] [Robert Raworth], and are to be sold by John Hodgets […], published 1607, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv:
"Their face with love and vigour vvas ydreſt, / VVith modeſty and joy, their tongue with juſt beheſt." — 1640 (date written), H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΟΖΩΙΑ [Psychozōia], or A Christiano-platonicall Display of Life, […]”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, published 1642, →OCLC, book 3, stanza 56, page 51:
"Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 15:
"I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because "it was wicked to dress us like charity children". We nearly crowned her we were so offended." — 1963, Margery Allingham, “Justifiably Angry Young Men”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 93:
"[A]ll the men there shoulde dresse themselves like the poorest sorte of the people in Arcadia, having no banners, but bloudie shirtes hanged upon long staves, […]" — c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
She wore a long red ____ to the formal dinner party.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Evening ____ is desired.

Expand Your Vocabulary with LexUp

Master English words using smart flashcards, play exciting word rounds, and compete with other learners worldwide.

Browse CEFR Words Alphabetically