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DictionaryapparelClothing
noun / verb

apparel

uh-PAIR-ul/əˈpærəl/

Clothes worn on the body.

The store displays warm winter apparel beside the entrance.

A compact retail clothing display: shirts, a jacket, trousers, and a dress arranged on a garment rack beside neatly folded sweaters, making clothing as a category of goods immediately recognizable.
Etymology
apparelOld Frenchpreparation; dress

Old French apareil linked preparation with dress: clothing was part of making someone ready for action. Its deeper ancestry is uncertain, but English narrowed the older equipment-and-furnishings sense to personal attire.

In context

Analyzing Finance with Nick5:08
People spent over 10% of their income on clothing and apparel. whereas today it's like 3% or less. So people were wearing cheaper made clothes
Do You Have Tacky Behavior That Reveals Low Class?: Examples of Prole Drift

More examples

  • The invitation requests formal apparel.
  • The costume designer apparels the cast in period clothing.
  • The travelers were appareled in heavy coats and boots.

Forms

apparel · apparels · appareled · appareling

Similar words

clothing
The ordinary collective noun for things worn on the body.
attire
Often suggests clothing appropriate to a particular occasion.