Meaning & use
wardrobe
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Meanings
nouncountable
A tall piece of furniture with doors and a rail, in which clothes are hung.
Grammar: Countable: a wardrobe, two wardrobes. American English often says closet or armoire.
Patterns
- in the wardrobe
- open the wardrobe
She hung her coat in the wardrobe by the bed.
The wooden wardrobe was too big for the narrow room.
He found the old toys at the back of the wardrobe.
nouncountable
All the clothes that a person owns or wears.
Grammar: Singular, often with a possessive: her winter wardrobe.
Patterns
- a summer wardrobe
- update your wardrobe
She updated her wardrobe before starting the new job.
A capsule wardrobe has just a few items that match well.
His wardrobe consists mostly of black shirts.
noununcountable
The department of a theater or film company that makes and looks after the costumes.
Grammar: Used with a singular verb: wardrobe is ready.
Patterns
- the wardrobe department
- wardrobe and makeup
Wardrobe finished the costumes the night before filming.
She works in wardrobe for a theater company.
The actor was sent to wardrobe for a final fitting.
Word forms
| plural | wardrobes |
|---|
Common combinations
- summer wardrobe
- She packed away her summer wardrobe in October.
- capsule wardrobe
- A capsule wardrobe makes packing easy.
- wardrobe malfunction
- The singer had a wardrobe malfunction on stage.
- wardrobe department
- The wardrobe department sewed every costume.
- update one's wardrobe
- He decided to update his wardrobe.
Synonyms and how they differ
- closet
- Closet is the usual American word for a built-in storage space for clothes, while wardrobe is a free-standing piece of furniture.
- armoire
- Armoire is a large decorative cabinet, often antique, so it is narrower than wardrobe.
- clothes
- Clothes is the general word for items you wear, while wardrobe means the whole collection a person owns.
- outfit
- Outfit means one set of clothes worn together, while wardrobe means all of them.
Word family
Commonly confused: wardrobe or closet?
wardrobe vs closet
A closet is usually built into a wall, while a wardrobe in British English is free-standing furniture.
Practice
She decided to update her ___ with a few new jackets before winter.
Choose one answer.
Wardrobe in this sense means the whole collection of clothes a person owns. Warehouse is a storage building and warden is a person, so both are wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wardrobe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.