- clothes
- clothesW2S2 [kləuðz, kləuz US klouðz, klouz] n [plural][: Old English; Origin: clathas, plural of clath; CLOTH]the things that people wear to cover their body or keep warm▪ I enjoy shopping for clothes and shoes.▪ What sort of clothes was he wearing ?▪ casual clothesput on/take off clothes▪ She had a shower and put on clean clothes.change your clothes/change into clean/dry etc clothes▪ The kids ran upstairs to change into dry clothes.work/school etc clothes▪ men dressed in ordinary street clothes▪ a clothes shop▬▬▬▬▬▬▬WORD CHOICE: clothes, clothing, garment, clothclothes are things that you wear, for example shirts and dresses : I need some new clothes. | Do you ever wear your sister's clothes?!! clothes is always plural and has no singular form : He was wearing nice clothes (NOT a nice clothe/clothes).Use clothing to talk about a particular type of clothes or when talking about making or selling clothes : Special protective clothing is worn. | a clothing manufacturer!! This word is not used much in ordinary spoken language : I went shopping for summer clothes (NOT clothing).In formal English, you can use garment or piece/item/article of clothing to refer to one thing you wear : a long velvet garment |a discarded article of clothingBut it is more usual to name the particular thing you mean : He was wearing a long coat (NOT long garment) .Cloth is the material that clothes are made from : a suit made from fine woollen cloth▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Dictionary of contemporary English. 2013.