Meaning & use
bombazine
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Meaning
noununcountableold-fashionedspecialist
A fine, dull-surfaced twilled fabric traditionally made of silk and wool, once widely used for black mourning clothes.
Grammar: No plural and no a: a dress of bombazine.
Patterns
- dressed in bombazine
- a dress of bombazine
The widow wore a black dress of bombazine for a full year.
Museum curators found a bonnet trimmed with bombazine in the old trunk.
In the novel, the aunt always appears in rustling bombazine.
Common combinations
- black bombazine
- She appeared in black bombazine at the funeral.
- dress of bombazine
- A dress of bombazine would have been usual for mourning.
- bombazine gown
- The bombazine gown looked heavy in the summer heat.
- trimmed with bombazine
- The bonnet was trimmed with bombazine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- crepe
- Crepe is a crinkled fabric also used for mourning, but it is lighter and was not always twilled like bombazine.
- serge
- Serge is a sturdy twilled cloth, but it is usually plainer and was not especially tied to mourning.
- worsted
- Worsted is a smooth wool fabric, whereas bombazine often combined silk with wool.
Word family
- bombasine noun
- an alternative spelling
Commonly confused: bombazine or bombazine?
bombazine vs bombazine
Do not confuse it with bombast, which means showy, pompous speech.
Practice
In a Victorian novel a widow wears black bombazine. What is bombazine?
Choose one answer.
Bombazine is a fabric, used for dresses and trims. The other options name unrelated objects, even though mourning is associated with the cloth.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bombazine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.