clothes

noun (plural) the things that people wear to cover their body or keep warm: I need some new clothes. | work/school clothes (=clothes suitable for work or school) USAGE NOTE: CLOTHES WORD CHOICE: clothes, clothing, piece/item of clothing, garment, something to wear, cloth, material, fabric, dress Clothes is the usual word for things we wear: She's got some beautiful clothes (NOT cloths). Clothing (U) is a more formal word for clothes in general: The workers here all have to wear protective clothing (NOT clothings).).| a clothes/clothing shop. When you are talking about clothes for a particular event, you often say something to wear: It's Gloria's wedding tomorrow and I haven't got anything to wear (=I have no suitable clothes). Clothes is not used with numbers, and in conversation if you want to talk about one piece/item of clothing you would usually call it by its name: I want to buy a new coat (NOT a new cloth/clothing). Garment (C) is a rather formal word for a single piece of clothing. On a shop notice: Only three garments may be taken into the fitting room (NOT three clothes). Clothes are made from various kinds of material, fabric or cloth (U), such as woven wool, silk, cotton or acrylic: I brought back a lovely piece of cloth from Thailand to make a dress out of. A cloth ((C) with plural cloths) is a piece of cloth, used for cleaning surfaces, dishes etc: Oh dear, I've spilt my beer - have you got a cloth? A dress (C) is a kind of clothing worn by women: What a pretty dress she's wearing! In certain expressions dress (U) is used to mean a particular type of clothes. The men were expected to wear casual dress/formal evening dress/national dress/fancy dress for the dinner.