wardrobe

noun

ward·​robe ˈwȯr-ˌdrōb 

plural wardrobes

1

a

: a collection of wearing apparel (as of one person or for one activity)

a summer wardrobe

b

: a collection of stage costumes and accessories

working in the wardrobe department

2

a

chiefly British : a room or closet (see closet entry 1 sense 2) where clothes are kept

b

: clothes press

especially : a tall freestanding cabinet with a rod for hanging clothes

c

: a large trunk in which clothes may be hung upright

3

: the department of a royal or noble household entrusted with the care of wearing apparel, jewels, and personal articles

Did you know?

There is a lot of word history packed into wardrobe. The word was borrowed by Middle-English speakers from a variant of Anglo-French garderobe. A combination of garder and robe, garderobe itself has been borrowed into English as a synonym of wardrobe. If the roots of garderobe look familiar, it is because they are the source of a number of different English words. Garder has given us the verbs guard and ward. And French robe, of course, is the source of the English robe and shares its own origins with the English verbs rob and reave (a synonym of plunder). If this connection seems odd, it might help to know that robe can be traced back to Germanic origins related to the Old High German words roub ("booty" or "looted clothing") and roubōn ("to rob").

Examples of wardrobe in a Sentence

She has a new summer wardrobe.

She went to wardrobe for her fitting.

Recent Examples on the Web

Temperatures are going to be summer-like the next several days, so ditch the coat and replace your wardrobe with shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. —Bill Kelly, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026

With a seemingly unlimited clothing budget and access to goods and ideas from around the globe, the Queen had a vast, ever-evolving wardrobe. —Emilia Petrarca, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026

The lower ground floor, meanwhile, contains an en suite bedroom for guests or staff, as well as a gym, which opens to a small terrace, and a huge, custom-outfitted dressing room with tons of wardrobe storage and its own bath. —Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 13 Apr. 2026

As the second trailer for the show dropped earlier this month, the fashion corner of the internet fixated on Jacob Elordi (Nate Jacobs) and his Bottega Veneta wardrobe. —José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 13 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English warderobe, from Anglo-French *warderobe, garderobe, from warder, garder to guard + robe robe

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Phrases Containing wardrobe

• capsule wardrobe

Rhymes for wardrobe

• bathrobe
• earlobe
• microbe
• niobe
• globe
• jobe
• lobe
• probe
• robe
• strobe
• microprobe

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Kids Definition

wardrobe

noun

ward·​robe ˈwȯr-ˌdrōb 

1

: a room, closet, or chest where clothes are kept

2

: a collection of clothes (as of one person or for one activity)