Meaning & use
sleeve
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The part of a piece of clothing that covers the arm or part of the arm.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a sleeve, two sleeves, the left sleeve.
Patterns
- a short/long sleeve
- roll up your sleeves
- a shirt with short sleeves
The sleeves of this sweater are too long for me.
She rolled up her sleeves and started washing the dishes.
He wore a T-shirt with short sleeves and jeans.
nouncountable
A protective cover for a record, disk, or document.
Grammar: Countable: often used with in/inside: in a sleeve, inside the sleeve.
Patterns
- a record sleeve
- a plastic sleeve
- in a sleeve
The old vinyl record still had its original picture sleeve.
Please put the important papers in a plastic sleeve.
He keeps his CDs in their sleeves on a shelf.
nouncountableinformal
A tattoo that covers a large part of the arm.
Grammar: Countable: usually singular in this sense: a sleeve, full sleeve.
Patterns
- a full sleeve
- a tattoo sleeve
- have a sleeve done
He has a full sleeve on his right arm.
She's thinking about getting a sleeve tattoo next year.
The artist is known for doing detailed sleeves.
Word forms
| plural | sleeves |
|---|
Common combinations
- roll up your sleeves
- We need to roll up our sleeves and finish this project.
- short sleeves
- In summer, I mostly wear shirts with short sleeves.
- long sleeves
- Wear long sleeves to protect your arms from the sun.
- have something up your sleeve
- Don't worry—she always has a plan up her sleeve.
- sleeve of a jacket
- The sleeve of my jacket got caught on a nail.
Commonly confused: sleeve or sleeveless?
sleeve vs sleeveless
Sleeveless is an adjective meaning 'without sleeves', as in a sleeveless dress; it is not a noun.
Practice
It's cold outside, so you should wear a shirt with long ______.
Choose one answer.
After 'long' we need the plural noun 'sleeves' because a shirt has two sleeves. 'Sleeve' is singular and would need 'a' or 'the'; 'sleeving' and 'sleeved' are not nouns used in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sleeve”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.