Meaning & use
a two-piece
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Meanings
nouncountable
A set of clothes made of two matching parts, especially a woman's swimsuit with a top and bottom, or a suit with a jacket and trousers or skirt.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a' for one set and '-s' for more than one, as in 'she bought a two-piece' and 'both two-pieces were on sale'.
Patterns
- wear a two-piece
- a two-piece swimsuit
- buy a two-piece
She packed a two-piece for the beach and a dress for dinner.
For the interview he wore a dark two-piece with a white shirt.
The store sells two-pieces in several colors.
adjectivebefore a noun
Made of two matching parts that are worn or used together.
Grammar: Used before a noun with a hyphen: 'a two-piece suit'. It is not used after a verb, so do not say 'the suit is two-piece'.
Patterns
- a two-piece suit
- a two-piece swimsuit
- a two-piece set
He bought a two-piece suit for his brother's wedding.
A two-piece set of luggage is easier to carry than one huge bag.
She prefers a two-piece swimsuit for swimming lessons.
Word forms
| plural | two-pieces |
|---|
Common combinations
- a two-piece suit
- A two-piece suit is still expected in many law offices.
- a two-piece swimsuit
- She bought a two-piece swimsuit for the holiday.
- wear a two-piece
- Most of the dancers wore a two-piece on stage.
- a matching two-piece
- The outfit was a matching two-piece in pale blue.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bikini
- A bikini is a specific kind of two-piece swimsuit, so it fits when you mean swimwear but not when you mean a suit.
- suit
- A suit can have two or three parts, so it is more general; 'a two-piece' tells you exactly how many parts there are.
Opposites
Commonly confused: a two-piece or two pieces?
a two-piece vs two pieces
Written as two separate words, this simply means two separate parts; written with a hyphen, 'a two-piece' is one set of clothing.
Practice
For the wedding, my uncle wore a dark ___ with a light blue tie.
Choose one answer.
'Two-piece' is correct because it comes before the noun 'suit' and needs the hyphen. 'Two pieces' would mean two separate things rather than one matching set, 'two-pieces' is plural and does not fit before a singular noun, and 'piece of two' is not an English phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a two-piece”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.