sumptuary
adjective
sump·tu·ary
ˈsəm(p)-chə-ˌwer-ē 
1
: relating to personal expenditures and especially to prevent extravagance and luxury
conservative sumptuary tastes—
John Cheever
John Cheever2
: designed to regulate extravagant expenditures or habits especially on moral or religious grounds
sumptuary laws
sumptuary tax
Examples of sumptuary in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gradually, my life became sumptuary and monastic, but this was more or less a survival tactic, since my own bouts of addiction had, throughout my twenties, left me with a contrail of two suicide attempts.
—Barrett Swanson, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
Others looked to curtail the social disruption caused by radically new fashions; preambles to sumptuary laws often refer to the loss of traditional virtues.
—Ana María Velasco, National Geographic, 17 Jan. 2024
Daston relates in comic detail how sumptuary rules in France failed to be followed time and again.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 6 July 2022
To protect the social order, sumptuary laws were passed that discouraged commoners from dressing above their class.
—Nick Haramis, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2023
In 1326 the women of Florence petitioned the Duchess of Calabria to ask her husband the duke to relax legislation preventing them from wearing false hair, part of a package of sumptuary laws that ordered people to wear clothing, accessories, and hairstyles suitable to their social positions.
—Mary Wellesley, The New York Review of Books, 5 Oct. 2022
English parliaments had a habit of passing sumptuary laws on luxury clothing under one monarch and repealing them under another, Blackstone went on to explain.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 8 July 2022
But, even when issued repeatedly, with more and more admonitory language, the sumptuary laws were routinely violated, year after year.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 6 July 2022
Strict sumptuary laws dictated what colors and styles of clothing people of different classes could wear.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Nov. 2021
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Barrett Swanson, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
Others looked to curtail the social disruption caused by radically new fashions; preambles to sumptuary laws often refer to the loss of traditional virtues.
—Ana María Velasco, National Geographic, 17 Jan. 2024
Daston relates in comic detail how sumptuary rules in France failed to be followed time and again.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 6 July 2022
To protect the social order, sumptuary laws were passed that discouraged commoners from dressing above their class.
—Nick Haramis, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2023
In 1326 the women of Florence petitioned the Duchess of Calabria to ask her husband the duke to relax legislation preventing them from wearing false hair, part of a package of sumptuary laws that ordered people to wear clothing, accessories, and hairstyles suitable to their social positions.
—Mary Wellesley, The New York Review of Books, 5 Oct. 2022
English parliaments had a habit of passing sumptuary laws on luxury clothing under one monarch and repealing them under another, Blackstone went on to explain.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 8 July 2022
But, even when issued repeatedly, with more and more admonitory language, the sumptuary laws were routinely violated, year after year.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 6 July 2022
Strict sumptuary laws dictated what colors and styles of clothing people of different classes could wear.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Nov. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Sumptuary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sumptuary. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
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