wear the trousers
wear the trousers verb: typically of a woman, to be the dominant partner in a relationship.
Verb
wear the trousers (third-person singular simple present wears the trousers, present participle wearing the trousers, simple past wore the trousers, past participle worn the trousers)
- Typically of a woman, to be the dominant partner in a relationship.
- As long as I remember who's wearing the trousers / I hope he never lets me down again1987, Martin L. Gore, “Never Let Me Down Again”, in Music for the Masses, performed by Depeche Mode
- His mother wore the trousers, and father, a gentle man who worked in local government, was not ambitious enough for her.1988, John Rowan, Windy Dryden, Innovative Therapy in Britain, page 246
- Synonyms:
- rule the roost, wear the breeches, wear the pants
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wear, trouser.
Synonyms of wear the trousers
Forms of wear the trousers
| third-person singular present | wears the trousers |
|---|---|
| present participle | wearing the trousers |
| past | wore the trousers |
| past participle | worn the trousers |
Questions about wear the trousers
- What does wear the trousers mean?
- Wear the trousers means typically of a woman, to be the dominant partner in a relationship.
- What part of speech is wear the trousers?
- Wear the trousers is a verb.
- What is the past tense of wear the trousers?
- The past tense of wear the trousers is wore the trousers.
Words near wear the trousers in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wear the trousers (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.
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