Meaning & use
dress rehearsal
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Meanings
nouncountable
The last practice of a play, concert or show, done in full costume and with all the sets, lights and sound, as if before an audience.
Grammar: Usually with an or the: we had a dress rehearsal on Thursday.
Patterns
- a dress rehearsal for something
- the final dress rehearsal
The cast wore their costumes for the dress rehearsal.
The dress rehearsal revealed a problem with the lighting.
Parents were invited to watch the school play's dress rehearsal.
nouncountablefigurative
A full-scale trial of any event, done close to the real conditions to find problems before the real thing.
Grammar: Often used figuratively and followed by for: a dress rehearsal for the real thing.
Patterns
- a dress rehearsal for something
The fire drill was a dress rehearsal for a real emergency.
The mock election served as a dress rehearsal for the vote.
They held a dress rehearsal of the wedding the night before.
Word forms
| plural | dress rehearsals |
|---|
Common combinations
- final dress rehearsal
- The final dress rehearsal went smoothly.
- full dress rehearsal
- We had a full dress rehearsal on stage.
- hold a dress rehearsal
- The band held a dress rehearsal before the tour.
- dress rehearsal for
- This storm was a dress rehearsal for the hurricane season.
- attend the dress rehearsal
- Journalists may attend the dress rehearsal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dry run
- Dry run is wider and suits tests of any plan, while dress rehearsal suggests costume, sets and a live performance.
- trial run
- Trial run means a first test of something to see how it works, but does not need costume or an audience.
- run-through
- A run-through can be an early, informal practice, whereas a dress rehearsal comes at the end with everything in place.
- practice session
- A practice session is general and may stop and start often, while a dress rehearsal tries to run like a real performance.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: dress rehearsal or audition?
dress rehearsal vs audition
An audition is a test performance to win a role, while a dress rehearsal is the final practice by the cast that has already been chosen.
Practice
The night before the opening, the cast performed the whole play in costume. This was the ____.
Choose one answer.
A dress rehearsal is the full practice in costume before the real show. An audition selects performers, an encore follows a show, and the premiere is the first public performance.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dress rehearsal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.