dress down

dressed down; dressing down; dresses down

Definition of dress down

transitive verb

: to reprove severely

intransitive verb

: to dress casually especially for reasons of fashion

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Examples of dress down in a Sentence

dressed down for boorish behavior at the dance

Recent Examples on the Web Backbench members of Parliament called for a tougher British response to Tehran after the Foreign Office responded to the detention by summoning Iran’s ambassador for an official dressing down. — Rob Crilly, Washington Examiner, "Boris Johnson under pressure to side with Trump on Iran deal as diplomatic crisis deepens," 13 Jan. 2020 But in meetings with the prime minister, or when she’s obliged to dress down someone who’s stepped out of line, the Queen wears plain linen suits in darker colors. — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, "How The Crown, and Its Clothes, Transform Power," 17 Nov. 2019 The track pant is the true all-purpose item, available to be dressed down or up or in a million different directions. — Amos Barshad, The New Yorker, "The Meaning of Tracksuits," 18 Sep. 2019 Casual, in the sense of dressing down, is not a word that described this man of manners or his sophisticated work. — Vogue, "Remembering Oscar de la Renta, Five Years After His Death," 18 Oct. 2019 The White House's Twitter account later tweeted out video of Gaetz's dressing down of Karlan. — Dareh Gregorian, NBC News, "Melania Trump says Democratic impeachment witness should be 'ashamed' for mentioning son, Barron," 4 Dec. 2019 The party’s theme is both Roaring Twenties and the Great Gatsby, so expect flapper dresses, suits and fedoras — but no jeans, as dressing down is against the rules. — Beth Rankin, The Know, "End the decade with a blowout at these Denver New Year’s Eve parties," 19 Dec. 2019 The family dressed down in matching grey sweats, with West breaking up the color palette by wearing a crisp white sweater. — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, "Kim Kardashian’s 2019 Christmas Card Is Her Most Low-Key Yet," 13 Dec. 2019 Great for dressing up and dressing down, these would make a perfect gift for others or for yourself. — Samantha Matt, USA TODAY, "20 amazing Black Friday deals you can get at Nordstrom," 29 Nov. 2019

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.

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Dictionary Entries near dress down

dressed and matched

dressed masonry

Statistics for dress down

Last Updated

10 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Dress down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dress%20down. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

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