Meaning & use
garbed
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“garbed” is a form of “garb”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectiveafter a verbformalliterary
Wearing a particular type of clothing, often a distinctive or unusual outfit.
Grammar: Usually follows a verb and takes in: he was garbed in black.
Patterns
- be garbed in something
- garbed as something
The monks, garbed in plain brown robes, walked slowly across the courtyard.
She arrived garbed in a shimmering silver gown.
A man garbed as a medieval knight greeted visitors at the gate.
verbtransitiveformalliterary
Past tense and past participle of garb: to dress someone or yourself in particular clothes.
Grammar: Needs an object: they garbed the actors in costume.
Patterns
- garb someone in something
The costume team garbed the whole choir in green.
He garbed himself in a long coat and set off into the storm.
The children were garbed in paper crowns for the play.
Word forms
| base form | garb |
|---|---|
| third person singular | garbs |
| past tense | garbed |
| -ing form | garbing |
Common combinations
- garbed in black
- The mourners were garbed in black.
- garbed in white
- The doctors were garbed in white.
- garbed in rags
- The beggar was garbed in rags.
- garbed as a pirate
- The waiter was garbed as a pirate for the party.
- ceremonially garbed
- The priests were ceremonially garbed for the festival.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dressed
- Dressed is the ordinary everyday word, while garbed sounds formal, dramatic or old-fashioned.
- clad
- Clad is also literary but often suggests fully covered in a type of clothing or material.
- attired
- Attired is formal and suggests clothes that suit an occasion.
- clothed
- Clothed simply means wearing clothes and carries no sense of a particular costume.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: garbed or garbled?
garbed vs garbled
Garbled describes a message that is confused or unclear, and has nothing to do with clothing.
Practice
The guards at the palace gate were ____ in bright red uniforms.
Choose one answer.
Garbed in means dressed in, which fits uniforms. Garbled means unclear, grabbed means seized, and gabbed means chatted, so none fit the clothing context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “garbed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.