Meaning & use
three-piece suit
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Meanings
nouncountable
A formal set of clothes made of matching jacket, trousers, and waistcoat.
Grammar: Countable: say a three-piece suit or two three-piece suits, never 'a three-pieces suit'.
Patterns
- wear a three-piece suit
- a three-piece suit in navy
He wore a dark three-piece suit to the interview.
The groom chose a gray three-piece suit with a silk tie.
In the 1920s, a three-piece suit was standard office wear for men.
nouncountable
A woman's matching outfit of jacket, skirt or trousers, and a top layer of the same fabric.
Grammar: Used the same way as for men's clothing; the pieces are named by the wearer's style.
Patterns
- a three-piece suit with a long jacket
She bought a cream three-piece suit for the wedding.
Her three-piece suit included a fitted waistcoat.
Word forms
| plural | three-piece suits |
|---|
Common combinations
- a tailored three-piece suit
- He had a tailored three-piece suit made for the ceremony.
- wear a three-piece suit
- Guests were asked to wear a three-piece suit or a dark dress.
- a three-piece suit and tie
- The photo shows him in a three-piece suit and tie.
- a smart three-piece suit
- She looked very smart in a three-piece suit.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- two-piece adjective
- Made of two matching parts, as in a two-piece suit.
- three-piece adjective
- Having three parts, used of suits, bands, and furniture sets.
- suited adjective
- Wearing a suit, or suitable for someone.
Commonly confused: three-piece suit or three-piece suite?
three-piece suit vs three-piece suite
A suite is a set of matching furniture for a living room; a suit is clothing.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The fixed compound keeps the number singular and uses hyphens: three-piece suit. The plural 'three-pieces' and the invented 'three-pieced' are not used.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “three-piece suit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.