How to say "clothes" correctly in English - Clothes,Clothing, Dress, Suit, Garment,Costume...

That day when Wu Qingqing was at work, she found a foreign colleague walking over wearing a formal suit. She wanted to say hello, "You look good in this suit," but a lot of expressions for clothes came to mind at once. , clothes, dress, suit, attire...which one should I use? The words came to my lips and I swallowed them down. In the end I just said "Hi..."

I believe everyone has had similar experiences. We don't know how to distinguish some synonyms. Sometimes it can be very embarrassing if you use it wrongly. To better help you distinguish these common synonyms. Qingqing Foreign Language will regularly share the usage distinctions of some of these commonly used words.

Today let’s take a look at the expression “clothes”.

Both clothes and clothing can mean "clothing" and are used as a general term for "clothing", but there are differences in usage:

1. clothes is a plural noun without a singular form , cannot be preceded by an indefinite article or a numeral, but it can be modified by words such as some, these, those, many, few, etc. Such as:

Such as those clothes / few clothes / many clothes

2. Clothing is an uncountable noun. Such as:

They wear very little clothing. They wear very little clothing.

Difference: The meaning of clothes is more concrete, while the meaning of clothing is more abstract. From a stylistic point of view, clothing is more formal than clothes.

Compare:

I changed my clothes. I changed my clothes.

He is washing his clothes. He is washing his clothes.

Our clothing protects us against the cold.

We are well provided with food and clothing. We are well provided with food and clothing.

Regardless of their subtle differences, the two can often be used interchangeably (note: one is plural and the other is uncountable). Such as:

He spent a lot of money on clothes [clothing]. He spent a lot of money on clothes.

Dress means "clothes" and has two uses:

1. Used as a countable noun, mainly refers to the dress or one-piece women's clothing worn by women, and can also refer to children Clothes worn, but not clothes worn by men. Such as:

She makes all her own dresses. She makes all her own dresses.

She was wearing a beautiful dress. She was wearing a beautiful dress.

2. Used as an uncountable noun to express the general term of "clothes" (regardless of men and women). For example:

He doesn’t care much about dress. He doesn’t care much about dress.

Note: In modern English, the use of dress as an uncountable noun is no longer common. It is mainly used to refer to certain special types of clothes (such as dresses, etc.). Such as:

evening dress full dress big dress

national dress national dress? fancy dress fancy dress

suit is a countable noun, referring to a set of clothes . A men's suit consists of a jacket, vest and trousers. A women's outfit consists of a top and a skirt.

business suit

Suit also constitutes clothing with special purposes, such as: a bathing suit, a sports suit, a space suit, a diving suit.

Costume is often used to refer to costumes, or a complete set of clothing worn on a certain occasion. It can also refer to the special clothing of a certain historical period or a certain country, a certain era or a certain group.

For example: My cousin went to the party in a pirate costume (My cousin went to the party in a pirate costume)

? Elizabethan costume (Elizabethan costume); cowboy costume (denim clothing)

Garment is a piece of clothing, especially clothing worn outside, such as She pulled the garment on and zipped it up. She pulled the garment on and zipped it up.

Garment is more of a business term, used for the production and sales of clothing. For example: the garment industry, garment design. In the United States, if we talk about a clothing factory, we must use the word "garment factory", never "clothes factory".

Apparel and attire are mainly used for elegant clothing worn outside, but this meaning has mostly been replaced by dress. replaced. Apparel (often written as wearing apparel) is the more formal word for clothing and clothes. Compared with attitude, it tends to refer to all the garments worn by someone; while attitude tends to refer to the impression given by someone's clothes.

For example, dress in formal attire to show your professional attitude towards the interview; the strange attire of the eccentric old woman (the strange attire of the eccentric old woman).

Attire is mostly seen on the wall. The slogans will be "Proper attair is a must", "proper/formal/casual attire".

Gear and togs both refer to clothes, but the tone is much more casual. Togs is a very old-fashioned word. If it is used nowadays, it almost always refers to swimwear. Even when used in swimwear, togs are mostly replaced by gear; the latter also has specific uses in addition to general clothing. For example: Modern gear does not suit stout or older men (Modern gear is not suitable for stout or older men); riding gear (horse riding gear).

Garb is a bookish word, mainly used in Refers to the typical clothing of a certain occupation or status.

For example: the garb of a priest (priest's attire); kingly garb (emperor's attire)

For the various expressions of clothing mentioned above, we don't need to remember every one of them very clearly, we just need to remember Those expressions that are most commonly used in specific situations will suffice,

1. Clothes and clothing are the most commonly used in spoken language, the meaning of clothes is more specific, while the meaning of clothing is more abstract;

2. For the dress worn to attend the party, use dress, evening dress, evening dress

3. For suit, use suit, business suit

4. For performance clothing costume

5. Used for the production and sale of clothing? Garment

6. Used for dressing up deliberately

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