Definition of clothing noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

clothing

noun

/ˈkləʊðɪŋ/

[uncountable]Idioms

jump to other results

clothes, especially a particular type of clothes
- Workers at the factory wear protective clothing.
- a man wearing dark clothing
- an item of clothing
- warm clothing
- the high cost of food and clothing
- a piece/an article of clothing
- Did you bring a change of clothing?
- stalls selling clothing for men and women
- The charity helped her out with clothing for work.
- on clothing They found blood on his clothing.
- a clothing store
- a clothing manufacturer
Synonyms clothes
clothesclothing ▪ garment ▪ dress ▪ wear ▪ gearThese are all words for the things that you wear, such as shirts, jackets, dresses and trousers.
clothes [pl.] the things that you wear, such as shirts, jackets, dresses and trousers.clothing [U] (rather formal) clothes, especially a particular type of clothes:
warm clothing
clothes or clothing?Clothing is more formal than clothes and is used especially to mean ‘a particular type of clothes’. There is no singular form of clothes or clothing: a piece/an item/an article of clothing is used to talk about one thing that you wear such as a dress or shirt.
garment (formal) a piece of clothing:
He was wearing a strange shapeless garment.
Garment should only be used in formal or literary contexts; in everyday contexts use a piece of clothing.dress [U] clothes, especially when worn in a particular style or for a particular occasion:
We were allowed to wear casual dress on Fridays.
wear [U] (usually in compounds) clothes for a particular purpose or occasion, especially when they are being sold in shops:
the children’s wear department
gear [U] (informal) clothes:
Her friends were all wearing the latest designer gear.
Patterns
- casual clothes/clothing/dress/wear/gear
- evening/formal clothes/dress/wear
- designer/sports clothes/clothing/garments/wear/gear
- children’s/men’s/women’s clothes/clothing/garments/wear
- to have on/be in/wear …clothes/garments/dress/gear
Extra Examples
- He went to work for a clothing manufacturer.
- Please make sure you bring warm clothing.
- The cost of household goods, clothing, and footwear fell this month.
- What was the last item of clothing you bought?
Topics Clothes and Fashiona2, Shoppinga2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- light
- heavy
- warm
- …
… of clothing
- article
- item
- piece
- …
clothing + noun
- business
- company
- factory
- …
phrases
- a change of clothing
See full entry
Want to learn more?

Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.

Idioms

a wolf in sheep’s clothing

a person who seems to be friendly or not likely to cause any harm but is really an enemy

See clothing in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee clothing in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English

Check pronunciation: clothing

Other results

All matches

clothing

Nearby words

previously

adverb

From the Word list

Oxford 3000

Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Word of the Day