fashion

1 of 2

noun

fash·ion ˈfa-shən

Synonyms of fashion next

a(1)

: the prevailing style (as in dress) during a particular time

The spring fashions are now on display.

(2)

: a garment in such a style

always wears the latest fashions

: a prevailing custom, usage, or style

Literary fashions have changed in recent years.

: social standing or prominence especially as signalized by dress or conduct

men and women of fashion

: mode of action or operation

assembled in an orderly fashion

not even changing fashions in warfare have diminished the island's strategic importance—

Franc Shor

: a distinctive or peculiar and often habitual manner or way

he will, after his sour fashion, tell you—

William Shakespeare

: the make or form of something

A lamp in the fashion of a silver dove was hung from an almost invisible golden wire in the centre of the room.—

Arthur Conan Doyle

archaic : kind, sort

fashion

2 of 2

verb

fashioned; fashioning ˈfash-niŋ

ˈfa-shᵊn-iŋ

; fashions

transitive verb

: to give shape or form to : to make, construct, or create (something) usually with careful attention or by the use of imagination and ingenuity

fashion a lamp from an old churn

a figure fashioned from clay

… delegating to the commander-in-chief the power to fashion the rules of the military justice system …—

Fred Strasser

Up there in the mountains old ladies … are still hooking rugs … and fashioning dainty dolls out of corn shucks.—

Richard Atcheson

: to design or devise for a particular use or purpose

… were the vessels fashioned for royalty distinguished from objects intended for nonroyal consumers?—

Asian Art

obsolete : contrive

fashioner

ˈfash-nər

ˈfa-shə-nər

noun

Phrases

after a fashion

: in an approximate or rough way

became an artist after a fashion

Choose the Right Synonym for fashion

fashion, style, mode, vogue, fad, rage, craze mean the usage accepted by those who want to be up-to-date.

fashion is the most general term and applies to any way of dressing, behaving, writing, or performing that is favored at any one time or place.

the current fashion

style often implies a distinctive fashion adopted by people of taste.

a media baron used to traveling in style

mode suggests the fashion of the moment among those anxious to appear elegant and sophisticated.

slim bodies are the mode at this resort

vogue stresses the wide acceptance of a fashion.

short skirts are back in vogue

fad suggests caprice in taking up or in dropping a fashion.

last year's fad is over

rage and craze stress intense enthusiasm in adopting a fad.

Cajun food was the rage nearly everywhere for a time

crossword puzzles once seemed just a passing craze but have lasted

synonyms see in addition method

Example Sentences

Noun Jewelry and clothing fashions vary with the season. Short skirts have come back into fashion. Those ruffled blouses went out of fashion years ago. She always wears the latest fashions. Literary fashions have changed in recent years. We started the meeting in an orderly fashion. We all lined up in orderly fashion. Verb Students fashioned the clay into small figures. She used the scraps of fabric to fashion a little doll's dress. a table fashioned out of an old door See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Breaking the rules isn't exactly a new concept in fashion. —

Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2023 Apart from fashion and culture, art has also added to the city’s vibrancy. —

Bird Story Agency, Quartz, 19 Jan. 2023 Andre Leon Talley will always remain a towering figure in fashion; forever woven within the DNA of the industry. —

Isiah Magsino, Town & Country, 17 Jan. 2023 Shades of green for everything from fashion to furniture were hugely popular in the '70s. —

Hannah Oh, Seventeen, 13 Jan. 2023 Given fresh life were frescoes from the latest fashion in Pompeii wall decoration before the flourishing city was buried under the volcanic ash furiously spewing from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. —

Francesco Sportelli, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Jan. 2023 Given fresh life were frescoes from the latest fashion in Pompeii wall decoration before the flourishing city was buried under the volcanic ash furiously spewing from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. —

Francesco Sportelli, Fortune, 10 Jan. 2023 Hendrix is continuing to seek employment and hopes to pursue his longtime interest in fashion by designing a high-end men’s dress sock. —

Jack Lee, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Jan. 2023 For now, take a look through the good, bad, and messy of this week in fashion. —

Kerane Marcellus, Essence, 7 Jan. 2023

Verb

Hamid Khan, a member of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, sees the LAPD’s interest in Spot as part of a broader push by police to fashion themselves after the military with increasingly high-tech tools. —

Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2022 It’s part of the job of CTOs and other innovators to dissect them, take the pieces and maybe fashion them into something truly remarkable that solves a compelling business need. —

Claus Jepsen, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2022 Grab some paper bags, tape, and leaves, of course, and let those little hands fashion themselves a festive crown. —

Charlyne Mattox, Country Living, 19 July 2022 According to Ingo Hasselbach, a reformed far-right activist who spent time in prison in the late 1980s, on Adolf Hitler’s birthday Nazi prisoners would paint swastikas on toilet paper and fashion them into armbands. —

Longreads, 6 July 2022 Throwing glasses on him to fashion him into a mastermind is a joke that was better told by Michael Mann’s Blackhat, which knew when to take those glasses off. —

K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 20 June 2022 Attach child-sized mittens with straight pins and fashion a bow from a length of yarn. —

Arricca Elin Sansone, Country Living, 19 Dec. 2022 And what lessons can fashion learn from Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard, who gave away his company with the goal of combating climate change. —

José Criales-unzueta, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2022 That’s where the swerving paths of Wideman’s fiction lead: to the prison, the plantation, the ghetto, the street, places where black people are brutalized and must fashion a life. —

Tobi Haslett, The New York Review of Books, 1 Dec. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fashion.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English fasoun, fasioun, fascioun, facioun, borrowed from Anglo-French façun, fauschoun "production, construction, appearance, form, sort, manner," going back to Latin factiōn-, factiō "act of making," from facere "to make, bring about, do" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at fact

Note: The Anglo-French form with a hushing consonant that was borrowed into Middle English reflects the Picard outcome of the Latin cluster [ktj]. A doublet of faction.

Verb

Middle English fascionen, in part verbal derivative of fascioun fashion entry 1, in part borrowed from Middle French façonner, derivative of façon fashion entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of fashion was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century