Meaning & use
XL extra large
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Meanings
abbreviation
A clothing size bigger than large, shown as the letters XL.
Grammar: Used after a noun (a T-shirt in XL) or before a noun (an XL jacket).
Patterns
- in XL
- an XL + noun
These jeans come in small, medium, large, and XL.
I need an XL shirt because the large one is too tight.
She ordered the dress in XL extra large.
adjectivebefore a noun
Of a size much larger than average, especially for clothes.
Grammar: Comes before the noun it describes: an XL coffee, XL gloves.
Patterns
- XL + noun
He bought an XL pizza for the party.
The store sells XL T-shirts for men.
I always get an XL coffee in the morning.
Common combinations
- XL size
- Do you have this in XL size?
- XL shirt
- He wears an XL shirt.
- XL coffee
- She ordered an XL coffee.
- in XL
- The sweater is available in XL.
Synonyms and how they differ
- extra large
- The full phrase; XL is the abbreviation. Use extra large in speech or writing when you want to be clear.
Opposites
Commonly confused: XL extra large or XXL?
XL extra large vs XXL
XXL means extra extra large, one size bigger than XL. Don't mix them up.
Practice
I usually take a large, but this brand runs small, so I'll need ___.
Choose one answer.
XL starts with a vowel sound /eks/, so we use 'an'. 'A XL' is wrong because 'a' is used before consonant sounds. 'The XL' would be specific, but here we mean any XL item.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “XL extra large”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.