sartorial

English

WOTD – 30 November 2009

Etymology

From New Latin sartorius (“pertaining to a tailor”), from Late Latin sartor (“tailor”), from Latin sarcire (“to patch, mend”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɑːˈtɔː.ɹi.əl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɑɹˈtɔɹ.i.əl/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

sartorial (comparative more sartorial, superlative most sartorial)

1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the tailoring of clothing.

   Synonym: vestiary

   • 2001 December 21, Jay Parini, “By Their Clothes Ye Shall Know Them”, in The Chronicle of Higher Education, B24:

     His sartorial rebellions were slight: he wore jeans, for example, when giving tutorials.

   • 2007, Carter Bays & Craig Thomas, How I Met Your Mother, CBS, Episode 2ALH14:

     Suits are full of joy. They are the sartorial equivalent of a baby’s smile.

   • 2023 February 20, Vanessa Friedman, “Don Lemon, Nikki Haley and the Lessons of a Hoodie”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The occasion, back then, was his decision to wear a hoodie with a suit jacket while on the air, which proved such an unexpected sartorial choice for an anchorman that it went viral, creating its own mini-news cycle.

3. Of or relating to the quality of dress.
   • 1997, Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; republished New York: Vintage Books, 1998, →ISBN, page 77:

     He was just a college instructor at the time, long before he had written his book and long before his sartorial conversion. The pockets of his sports coat bulged from having had fists thrust into them too long.

   In his smart suit Jacob was by far the most sartorial of our party.

4. (anatomy) Of or relating to the sartorius muscle.

Derived terms

• sartorialism
• sartorialist

Translations

of or relating to tailoring or clothing

• Bulgarian: шивашки (šivaški)
• Dutch: kleermakers- (nl)
• Finnish: pukeutumis- (fi), vaatetukseen liittyvä, vaatetukseen kohdistuva
• French: vestimentaire (fr)
• German: Kleidungs- (de), Garderoben- (de), Mode- (de)
• Hungarian: szabászati (hu)
• Polish: krawiecki (pl)
• Romanian: vestimentar (ro)
• Russian: портно́вский (ru) (portnóvskij), портня́жный (ru) (portnjážnyj)
• Spanish: sartorial
• Swedish: skräddar- (sv)

of or relating to quality of dress

• Dutch: vestimentaire (nl)
• Finnish: hyvin pukeutunut, laadukkaasti pukeutunut
• German: kleidsam (de)
• Romanian: vestimentar (ro)

anatomy: of sartorius

• Dutch: betreffende de kleermakerspier
• Finnish: räätälinlihas- (fi), räätälinlihakseen liittyvä
• French: concernant le muscle couturier (fr)
• Russian: портня́жный (ru) (portnjážnyj)