suit
noun · verb
Simple meaning
a matching set of clothes, usually a jacket and pants or skirt
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sootIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsut
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
clothing
A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
clothing
A man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage)
Pakistanwomen's speech
A dress.
by extension
A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit.
A full set of armour.
Petition, request, entreaty.
verb
most commonly used in the passive formintransitive
To dress; to clothe.
transitivefigurative
To be appropriate or apt for.
intransitivetransitive
To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste.
intransitive
To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with).
transitive
To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (clothing) A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
Used this way, suit is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Business/professional
Nearby words
- fit , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
- cause , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use suit
- “They buried him in his best suit.”noun
- “This kind of behavior does not suit a young woman!”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
In accordance with what is appropriate or suitable for the circumstances.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A set of garments (usually including a jacket and trousers or skirt) for outerwear all of the same fabric and color.
Armor that protects the wearer's whole body.
Armor that protects the wearer's whole body.
A lawsuit alleging violations of criminal law by the defendant.
A loose protective coverall or smock worn over ordinary clothing for dirty work.
A lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.