dress up

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See also: dress-up

English[edit]

Verb[edit]

dress up (third-person singular simple present dresses up, present participle dressing up, simple past and past participle dressed up)

  1. (intransitive) To put on special or fancy clothes.
    Synonym: (US) gussy up
    Antonym: dress down
    Everyone dressed up for the graduation ball.
    I want a job where I don't have to dress up.
  2. (intransitive, often with 'as') To put on a costume portraying oneself as a particular type of character or well-known person.
    We're having a party on Saturday, but you must dress up as a famous historical figure.
  3. (transitive, often with 'as') To put a costume on (someone) portraying them as a particular type of character or well-known person.
    The cat hated when they dressed him up for Halloween.
  4. (transitive) To decorate; to prettify.
  5. (transitive) To present in a favorable light.
    Synonym: spin
    You can dress up that proposal however you want; it's still going to go over like a lead balloon.

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Translations[edit]

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