Definition of dress down
: to reprove severely
: to dress casually especially for reasons of fashion
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
Examples of dress down in a Sentence
dressed down for boorish behavior at the dance
Recent Examples of dress down from the Web
-
The singer also dressed down for the evening, opting for a black shirt and matching jeans paired with a colorful animal-print bomber jacket.
-
Guillaume Rey, a French waiter living in Canada, was fired from his job for dressing down a colleague.
-
That's a blessing when you're dressed down on the weekend and your coat is the coolest part of your look anyway.
-
The royal dad’s face was mostly covered by his helmet, and he was dressed down in jeans and a gray riding jacket.
-
Still mostly unknown nationally, his state has become a liberal stronghold and his dressing down of Trump during a recent White House visit will please liberals.
-
All the pieces can be dressed up or dressed down, worn day or night to work or play, and paired with high heels or slippers.
-
Gomez went for a casual sweatshirt and jeans, while Bieber dressed down in his hockey jersey and sweats.
-
The charming acoustic version offered a raw look at the lead character, dressed down in jeans and a sweatshirt instead of her usual party dresses and jewels—not to mention inspired wanderlust in audiences everywhere.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dress down.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of dress down
1852
dress down Synonyms
Synonyms
bawl out, berate, call down, castigate, chastise, chew out, flay, hammer, jaw, keelhaul, lambaste (or lambast), lecture, rag, rail (at or against), rant (at), rate, ream (out), rebuke, reprimand, reproach, scold, score, tongue-lash, upbraid;
Related Words
admonish, chide, remonstrate (with), reprove;
abuse, assail, attack, bad-mouth, blame, blast, censure, condemn, criticize, crucify, denounce, dis (also diss) [slang], excoriate, fault, harangue, knock, lace (into), lash, pan, reprehend, revile, scourge, slam, vituperate;
Phrases
lay into, read the riot act (to), take to task;
Learn More about dress down
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up dress down? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
