Meaning & use
pinstripe suit
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Meanings
nouncountable
A suit made of cloth with thin light stripes running down it, often worn for business.
Grammar: Countable: say a pinstripe suit or pinstripe suits, and use it with a/an or a number.
Patterns
- wear a pinstripe suit
- a pinstripe suit and tie
- in a pinstripe suit
He wore a dark pinstripe suit to the interview.
She bought a pinstripe suit for her new job at the bank.
The photograph shows three men in pinstripe suits outside the office.
noununcountablespecialist
The striped cloth itself, used for making suits and other formal clothes.
Grammar: Uncountable as a fabric name: talk about pinstripe suit material or a length of pinstripe, not 'a pinstripe'.
Patterns
- pinstripe suit material
- a length of pinstripe
The tailor ordered more pinstripe for the spring collection.
This jacket is cut from the same pinstripe as the trousers.
Word forms
| plural | pinstripe suits |
|---|
Common combinations
- a dark pinstripe suit
- He chose a dark pinstripe suit for the ceremony.
- a gray pinstripe suit
- She looked sharp in a gray pinstripe suit.
- wear a pinstripe suit
- Lawyers here usually wear a pinstripe suit in court.
- a pinstripe suit and tie
- The manager arrived in a pinstripe suit and tie.
- a sharp pinstripe suit
- He owns one sharp pinstripe suit for special occasions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- striped suit
- A general term for any suit with stripes of any width or color; pinstripe suit is more specific about the very thin, evenly spaced stripes.
- business suit
- Focuses on the formal purpose rather than the pattern; a business suit may be plain, checked, or pinstriped.
Word family
- pinstripe noun
- The thin light stripe itself, or cloth patterned with such stripes.
- pinstriped adjective
- Having thin light stripes, as in a pinstriped shirt.
Commonly confused: pinstripe suit or striped suit?
pinstripe suit vs striped suit
Not wrong, but much broader: it can describe wide, colorful, or casual stripes, while a pinstripe suit has fine, formal stripes.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
A singular countable phrase needs 'a' before it: a pinstripe suit. Option 2 mixes 'a' with a plural noun, option 3 drops the article, and option 4 changes the meaning with 'alone' and a plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pinstripe suit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.