Dress Definition: Real Examples & Facts

One of the best ways to learn the description of “dress” is to see how people use it in real life. We prepared some illustrative sentences.

You learn English words to communicate with other speakers, so it is important to know alternative terms to avoid repetition.

Related nouns: clothing clothes costume outfit

Synonyms (contextual): apparel attire

Common collocations: elegant dress wear a dress buy a dress

As you need to define the “dress,” the context will help with this, as well as expand your vocabulary with other words.

With adjectives: cocktail dress red dress mini dress

With verbs: put on a dress try on a dress zip up a dress

With nouns (noun + noun): shirt dress dress store

Sometimes, even simple words like this can have double meanings when used in idioms. Let’s answer, “What does ‘dress’ mean?” in these special sayings.

• In full dress — means to wear formal clothes for an event.

  Frank appeared at the ceremony in full dress.

• Dress rehearsal — refers to the final preparations for a performance, occasion, etc.

  Please, everyone, be quiet. It is a dress rehearsal. No mistakes are allowed.

• Dress up — to choose the most beautiful clothes from your wardrobe.

  Peter was invited to the costume party. He has to dress up well.

Doing a fun activity will help you memorize the word, some idioms, “dress” synonyms, and improve your reading skills.

To get a deeper understanding of the meaning of “dress,” you need to see this word in other popular languages. 

Facts allow you to connect new words with some context — an interesting one — that makes memorizing them easier. We have got some of them here!

• The largest dress in the world is 150 metres long.

  The Guinness World Records state that Strecy Sankhe from India made one in 2012, and it was totally black.

• The Victoria & Albert Museum has the largest collection of dresses.

  They save not just dressed but thousands of years of our history, with over 75K of objects to observe.

• The most expensive dress worldwide costs $30M.

  “The Nightingale of Kuala Lumpur” was made by Faisal Abdullah from Malaysia, decorated with 750+ diamonds.

Phrases with the “dress” word are important for learners who want to expand their understanding of its usage and receive more context.