dresses 1 of 2

noun

plural of dress
1
as in gowns
a garment with a joined blouse and skirt usually worn by a woman or girl what a lovely dress you're wearing today!

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2
as in costumes
clothing chosen as appropriate for a specific situation a bagpiper in full Scottish Highlander dress

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3
as in looks
the outward form of someone or something especially as indicative of a quality another version of the Cinderella story but in modern-romance dress

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dresses

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of dress
1
as in bandages
to cover with a bandage first wash and then dress the wound

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2
as in decorates
to make more attractive by adding something that is beautiful or becoming let's dress up the room with some greenery for the holiday party

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3
as in polishes
to make smooth or glossy usually by repeatedly applying surface pressure dress the granite block to be used as the headstone on all four sides

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in clothes
to outfit with clothes and especially fine or special clothes dressed the young girl in satin and lace

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5
as in suits
to put on one's best or formal clothes we don't usually dress for dinner

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6
as in grows
to look after or assist the growth of by labor and care dress the beans by applying fertilizer once a week

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dresses
Noun
Scroll on for an edit of more wedding guest slip dresses that are just as versatile. — Corinne Pierre-Louis, Vogue, 7 Oct. 2026 Back in June 2024, Kidman’s daughter Sunday Rose joined the actress for the Balenciaga haute couture fall 2024 show in Paris, where the mother-daughter pair coordinated in black dresses and dramatic sunglasses. — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 6 Oct. 2026 The theme is The Gilded Age, but no one dresses to the theme, looking like Christine Baranski or Clock Twink. — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026 Best Amazon Prime Day Dress Deals Under $50 The best fall dresses on sale include maxi dresses, sweater dresses, and fall wedding guest dress options. — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Oct. 2026 When designing the makeup, Miller also drew inspiration from costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio’s use of the all-white suit and pivotal red dresses later in the film. — Fawnia Soo Hoo, Allure, 5 Oct. 2026 Canonero created over 70 original dresses for Dunst’s Marie Antoinette alone, and eventually won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. — Marlow Stern, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026 Wear them with slacks and a blazer to work, with flowy fall dresses and pencil skirts, or with wide-leg pants to dress up a casual look. — Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2026 Skin tones also look natural, and orange dresses stand out nicely. — Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 28 Sep. 2026
Verb
Possessing a Midwestern accent, Calvin Klein dresses, Black American skin and hair care products, and a butter-pecan skin tone, Ericka quickly wins over the crew Paulina has ruled for years. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026 Nina Piccini, a personal stylist who typically dresses female founders and executives, says workplace clothing is, more than anything, a visual cue. — Morgan Sullivan, Glamour, 29 Sep. 2026 Later, CeCe dresses her up in a pink tutu and makes up a dance for her kitten. — Parents, 31 July 2026 Young, who dresses Dakota Johnson, Julianne Moore, and Scarlett Johansson, spotlighted it as an essential for summer travel in her latest Quince curation. — Olivia Cigliano, InStyle, 31 July 2026 Regardless, men behaving in a repulsed or shocked way when a man dresses feminine or in women’s clothing is homophobic. — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 22 July 2026 Will’s obsessive, put-upon mother, Susan (Tandi Wright), belittles Alice, dresses her down for her attire at the funeral, and forces her to wear heels that don’t fit, leaving her feet bloody. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 10 July 2026 Dior dresses the players for every official appearance—not as a sponsorship decoration but as a statement of aesthetic register. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 28 June 2026 While both draw big crowds and, like the pope, Bad Bunny often dresses in white, their messages are contrasting. — Christopher Lamb, CNN Money, 10 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dresses
  1. gowns
  2. costumes
  3. looks
  4. decorates
  5. polishes
  6. suits
  7. grows
  8. attitudes
Noun
  • There was music and singing, but we were dressed in gowns and tuxedos and then did militant poetry.
    — Jeremy Rellosa, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Guests arrived via a long red carpet, a nod to the countless ones Saab's gowns have graced over the years.
    — Vogue, Vogue, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of gowns
Noun
  • Have your camera ready when arriving or departing, as the staff usually perform an entertaining song and dance in traditional costumes.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Of course, the exhibition would be incomplete without Milena Canonero’s Oscar-winning costumes and Manolo Blahnik’s dazzling heels, brought together from all corners of the world.
    — Stephanie Sporn, HollywoodReporter, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of costumes
Noun
  • Not long ago, ordering a nonalcoholic beer at Oktoberfest could draw puzzled looks.
    — Erik Kirschbaum, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026
  • This week, the best beauty looks played both sides of the color wheel.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of looks
Verb
  • As strikes hit multiple Ukrainian regions and Russia’s Belgorod, Zelensky disputes claims of an energy-infrastructure truce while Moscow decorates a Baltic Sea ship captain and confirms a general’s death.
    — Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
  • The print decorates a semi-sheer collarless evening jacket, an ideal day-to-night piece, according to Brock.
    — Ari Stark, Footwear News, 22 July 2026
Definition of decorates
Verb
  • While a classic button-down shirt is always timeless, a peplum top offers the same wearability with a waist-defining silhouette that instantly polishes any bottom they’re paired with.
    — Nicol Natale, PEOPLE, 1 Aug. 2026
  • The PowerPaste polishes and protects more delicate surfaces, while the Tangerine Clean is more abrasive for serious scrubbing.
    — Brittany VanDerBill, Better Homes & Gardens, 15 July 2026
Definition of polishes
Verb
  • While those companies are not named in the Boulder case, they are named as defendants in similar climate lawsuits filed across the country, suits that very likely would be affected by the high court’s ruling.
    — Callie Patteson, The Washington Examiner, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The timing also suits Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants to show good Gulf relations ahead of elections, Maksad said.
    — Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of suits
Verb
  • The new method instead grows the crystals separately and transfers them onto the chip afterward.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2026
  • But, especially as your business grows, working with scrap paper and Excel spreadsheets can be time-consuming and error-prone.
    — Carson Brunson, CNBC, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of grows
Noun
  • This week’s Pollwatcher looks at Americans’ attitudes and behaviors toward college education and highlights polls from two key House districts.
    — Scott Clement, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Governments from tiny Qatar and Kuwait to much larger Saudi Arabia and Algeria are navigating shifting attitudes around the role of women – while also confronting economic and employment challenges.
    — Monitor's Editorial Board, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of attitudes

Browse Nearby Words

dressers
dresses
dresses down
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Cite this Entry

“Dresses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dresses. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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