Meaning & use
business suit
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A matching jacket and trousers or skirt in a plain fabric, worn for work in offices and formal meetings.
Grammar: Countable: a business suit, two business suits.
Patterns
- wear a business suit
- a business suit and tie
He wore a gray business suit to the interview.
She bought a navy business suit for her first job.
Most bankers in the lobby were in a dark business suit.
nouncountableinformalhumorous
A person in office clothes, used informally for a corporate manager or executive.
Grammar: Often shortened to suit: the suits upstairs.
Patterns
- the business suits
The business suits in the boardroom ignored our idea.
A crowd of business suits hurried across the platform.
The festival crowd looked odd beside the business suits.
Word forms
| plural | business suits |
|---|
Common combinations
- wear a business suit
- He rarely wears a business suit these days.
- a charcoal business suit
- A charcoal business suit suits most men.
- tailored business suit
- She wore a tailored business suit to the meeting.
- a two-piece business suit
- A two-piece business suit is standard in the firm.
- dressed in a business suit
- A man dressed in a business suit sat on the bench.
Synonyms and how they differ
- suit
- Suit is the shorter everyday word, while business suit specifies the office style.
- lounge suit
- Lounge suit is a British term for an ordinary daytime suit, less specifically about work.
- pantsuit
- Pantsuit means a woman's suit with trousers, so it describes the cut rather than the work setting.
- formalwear
- Formalwear covers all dressy clothes, including evening gowns and tuxedos.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: business suit or tuxedo?
business suit vs tuxedo
A tuxedo is an evening suit with satin trim for formal parties, not for office work.
Practice
For a job interview at a law firm, which is the best choice?
Choose one answer.
A business suit is the standard professional outfit. A tuxedo is for evening events, and the others are too casual.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “business suit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.