dress rehearsal
noun
1
: a full rehearsal (as of a play) in costume and with stage properties shortly before the first performance
2
: a practice exercise for something to come : dry run
Examples of dress rehearsal in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The terminal underwent testing ahead of the big day, with more than 2,000 people participating in two large dress rehearsals simulating busy travel days.
—
Chris Hoffman, CBS News, 18 Nov. 2025
As a kid, I was ensorcelled by The American President, Sorkin’s 1995 film, the dress rehearsal for The West Wing four years later, and the beginning of his lifelong flirtation with civic virtue — and, inadvertently, my profession studying presidents.
—Alexis Coe, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2025
After she was sent to the hospital during the show's dress rehearsal, Braxton was forced to bow out of the competition in 2015 due to blood clots in her lungs.
—Diana Pearl, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
On July 31, for example, the crew entered their spacecraft in their flight suits for a multiday training — a dress rehearsal of sorts — at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
—Matt Alderton, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dress rehearsal
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Chris Hoffman, CBS News, 18 Nov. 2025
As a kid, I was ensorcelled by The American President, Sorkin’s 1995 film, the dress rehearsal for The West Wing four years later, and the beginning of his lifelong flirtation with civic virtue — and, inadvertently, my profession studying presidents.
—Alexis Coe, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2025
After she was sent to the hospital during the show's dress rehearsal, Braxton was forced to bow out of the competition in 2015 due to blood clots in her lungs.
—Diana Pearl, PEOPLE, 29 Oct. 2025
On July 31, for example, the crew entered their spacecraft in their flight suits for a multiday training — a dress rehearsal of sorts — at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
—Matt Alderton, USA Today, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dress rehearsal
Cite this Entry
“Dress rehearsal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dress%20rehearsal. Accessed 5 Dec. 2025.
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