Meaning & use
costume
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Meanings
nouncountable
A set of clothes worn to look like someone or something else, for a party, play, parade or film.
Grammar: Countable for each outfit: a costume, three costumes. Followed by of or for: a costume for the school play.
Patterns
- wear a costume
- a costume for something
- a costume of something
She wore a pirate costume to the Halloween party.
The actors changed costumes between scenes.
He made his daughter's dragon costume out of old curtains.
noununcountable
The typical style of clothing worn by people in a particular country, region or period of history.
Grammar: Uncountable, often used with national, traditional or period: traditional costume.
Patterns
- in traditional costume
- a costume of a period
Dancers in traditional costume performed at the festival.
The museum shows regional costume from the eighteenth century.
Visitors can see national costume from over thirty countries.
nouncountableBritishold-fashioned
A swimsuit; used chiefly in British English, often as swimming costume.
Grammar: In British English, a swimming costume is the same as a swimsuit.
Patterns
- a swimming costume
She packed her swimming costume and a towel.
He forgot his costume and had to borrow one at the pool.
Word forms
| plural | costumes |
|---|---|
| third person singular | costumes |
| past tense | costumed |
| -ing form | costuming |
Common combinations
- wear a costume
- Everyone had to wear a costume to the school fair.
- Halloween costume
- Her Halloween costume was a clever homemade robot.
- costume party
- We were invited to a costume party at the weekend.
- costume design
- The film won an award for its costume design.
- period costume
- The actors were dressed in period costume from the 1920s.
- fancy-dress costume
- He hired a fancy-dress costume for the stag night.
Synonyms and how they differ
- outfit
- Outfit is any set of clothes, including ordinary ones, whereas costume means clothes meant to represent a role.
- disguise
- Disguise is meant to hide who you are, while a costume is usually worn openly for fun or performance.
- dress
- Dress is general and can mean clothing of a particular country or time, but costume is more theatrical.
- attire
- Attire is a formal word for clothing in general, and does not suggest pretending to be somebody.
Word family
Commonly confused: costume or custom?
costume vs custom
A custom is a habit or tradition. The words look similar and share a historical root, but a custom is behavior and a costume is clothing.
Practice
For the school play, each student needs a ___ that matches their character.
Choose one answer.
A costume is clothing worn to represent a character. Custom and customs mean traditions or border control, and a customer is a person who buys things.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “costume”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.