clothing
Syllables: cloth·ingUK/ˈkləʊðɪŋ//ˈkloʊðɪŋ/
clothing is the present participle and gerund of clothe.
Noun
clothing (countable and uncountable, plural clothings)
- Any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to preserve modesty, or for fashion.
- Marco runs a clothing brand.
- You should wear warm clothing when it is cold outside.
- Synonyms:
- attire, apparel, clothes, duds, garments, habiliment, item of clothing, kit (UK), piece of clothing, raiment
- An act or instance of putting clothes on.
- The clothing and unclothing of the idols was of special significance.
- Synonyms:
- dressing
- Antonyms:
- undressing
- The art or process of making cloth.
- [M]any of the poor diſtreſſed People, being bereft of their Habitation, came into England, vvhere the King, in Compaſſion of their Condition, and alſo, conſidering that they might be beneficial to his Subjects, by instructing them in the Art of Cloathing, firſt placed them about Carliſle in the...a. 1706 (date written), John Ray, “[Discourse II. Of the General Deluge in the Days of Noah, Its Causes and Effects.] That there have been Great Changes Made in the Superficial Part of the Earth...
- A covering of non-conducting material on the outside of a boiler, or steam chamber, to prevent radiation of heat.
Meaning of clothe
Verb
clothe (third-person singular simple present clothes, present participle clothing, simple past and past participle clothed or (archaic) clad)
Synonyms of clothing
Antonyms
Forms of clothing
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | cloathing |
| Noun | |
| plural | clothings |
Origin of clothing
From Middle English clothing, clathing, from Old English *clāþung, from Proto-West Germanic *klaiþungu (“clothing”), equivalent to clothe + -ing. Cognate with Scots clathing, claithing (“clothing”), Saterland Frisian Klodenge (“clothing”), West Frisian klaaiïng (“clothing”), Dutch kleding (“clothing”), German Kleidung (“clothing”), Danish klædning (“clothing, dress, attire”), Swedish kläding, klädning (“clothing, dress”). Doublet of the dialectal English term cleading, from Middle English clething; compare also cladding.
Words formed from clothing
- bedclothing
- card-clothing
- clothing bin
- clothing compulsive
- clothing hanger
- clothing iron
- clothing-iron
- clothingless
- clothing moth
- clothing optional
- clothing-optional
- item of clothing
- nonclothing
- piece of clothing
- sheep in wolf's clothing
- there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing
- underclothing
- wolf in sheep's clothing
Phrases with clothing
Words that rhyme with clothing
Questions about clothing
- What does clothing mean?
- Clothing means any of a wide variety of articles, usually made of fabrics, animal hair, animal skin, or some combination thereof, used to cover the human body for warmth, to preserve modesty, or for fashion.
- What is clothing the present participle and gerund of?
- Clothing is the present participle and gerund of clothe.
- What part of speech is clothing?
- Clothing is a noun.
- How do you pronounce clothing?
- Clothing is pronounced /ˈkləʊðɪŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of clothing?
- The plural of clothing is clothings.
Words near clothing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clothing (page history and authors); clothe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-clothing.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clothing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clothing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.