suit
/suːt
/noun
1A set of outer clothes made of the same fabric and designed to be worn together, typically consisting of a jacket and trousers or a jacket and skirt: a pinstriped suit...
- Choose jackets, tailored suits and shirtwaist dresses with straight, classic cuts.
- Cerruti has veered away from innocuous and terribly predictable suits; away from trousers, jacket, belt and shoes in perfect harmony.
- He probably also designs those fantastically expensive suits and clothes as well, doodling them down on the backs of team sheets during langours in play.
Synonyms
outfit, set of clothes, costume, ensemble;
clothing, dress, attire, finery;
habit, garb, livery
informal get-up, gear, togs, garms, duds
British informal kit, clobber
rhyming slang whistle (and flute)
formal apparel
archaic vestments
1.1A set of clothes to be worn for a particular activity: a jogging suit...
- Even Russian men, whose clothing choice was once limited to polyester business suits or polyester jogging suits, have become fussy dressers.
- Don't use a powerlifting suit or shirt; special clothing will make you depend more on momentum than on muscle.
- If you are still clinging to polyester ski pants and an old knit, long sleeved, bike jersey as your race suit, consider Lycra.
1.2A complete set of pieces of armour for covering the whole body: a suit of armour...
- This protects the body of the animal like a suit of armour.
- Many brave knights died while trying to kill the huge beast, the legend goes - until one day, a local hero named Peter took on the worm while wearing a suit of armour covered with razor blades.
- One of the first things Rosemary does before opening her farm shop in the village of Camembert is don a suit of armour - one forged in her imagination.
1.3 informal A high-ranking executive in an organization, typically one regarded as exercising influence in an impersonal way: maybe now the suits in Washington will listen...
- The issue wouldn't have entered the public domain were it not for the suits within these organisations discussing these proposals over a coffee when on SPL business.
- The Union's new boss has overhauled the suits in Murrayfield such that there are new heads of department occupying just about every office going, from marketing to media via finance.
- Yet striking the right balance between the artists and the suits remains remarkably hard.
Synonyms
businessman, businesswoman, business person, executive, bureaucrat, administrator, manager, director
2Any of the sets into which a pack of playing cards is divided (in conventional packs comprising spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs).The classic order of suits is hearts above diamonds, and spades above clubs....
- Tiles in a set of Chinese dominoes are divided into two suits (Civil and Military).
- It is generally easiest to divide a deck by suits, and then give each player all the cards of one suit.
3A lawsuit.Ads designed to assemble litigants for class action suits represent an explosive area of growth in legal advertising....
- Thus the position now acknowledged is that in an appropriate case a claimant in a negligence suit may establish a prima facie case by relying on the fact of the accident.
- The Amendment only withholds federal judicial power in suits against the state by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.
Synonyms
legal action, lawsuit, suit at law, case, court case, action, cause, legal proceeding/process, proceedings, judicial proceedings, litigation, trial, legal dispute/contest, bringing to book, bringing of charges, indictment, prosecution
4The process of trying to win a woman’s affection with a view to marriage: he could not compete with John in Marian’s eyes and his suit came to nothing...
- He took the rejection of his suit to the princess hard, and has plotted revenge against those caused the rejection of his suit.
- The knight undertakes a love suit to the daughter of Selestinus, a wise emperor in Rome, and certain strange terms are agreed upon between them as the condition of her favor.
Synonyms
courtship, wooing, courting, addresses, attentions, homage, pursuit;
respects, blandishments
4.1 literary A petition or entreaty made to a person in authority: he sought a passage to Christian lands, but they spurned his suit...
- The first concerns his suit to the Queen for the return of Waltham Forest, the second his suit to the Queen for a licence to bring certain commodities into the realm, and the third a petition brought by one Thomas Gurley against Oxford's wife.
- The ambassador for Poland is returning from Rome having made suit to the Pope for 20,000 crowns.
5A complete set of sails required for a ship or for a set of spars: they went ashore and changed to another suit of sails...
- A new vessel would always be provided with at least two suits of sails from the sail-making firm engaged by the owner.
- So, even in this computer-age, the ultimate proving ground of a new suit of sails remains the race course, the way it should be.
verb [with object]
1Be convenient for or acceptable to: what time would suit you? [no object]: the flat has two bedrooms—if it suits, you can have one of them...
- Its courses are available on computers connected to the internet, so workers can learn wherever and whenever it suits them and you.
- They play their cards in a completely random fashion, laying down and picking up whenever it suits them.
- The athletes should be able to come to these grounds and practise whenever it suits them.
Synonyms
be convenient for, be acceptable to, be suitable for, meet the requirements of, satisfy the demands of, be in line with the wishes of;
befit, match, complement, go with
informal fit the bill
make appropriate to/for, make fitting to/for, tailor, fashion, accommodate, adjust, adapt, modify, fit, gear, equip, design;
(be suited to) be cut out for
1.1 (suit oneself) [often in imperative] Act entirely according to one’s own wishes (often used to express the speaker’s annoyance): ‘I’m not going to help you.’ ‘Suit yourself.’...
- I don't think so, for the Government doesn't back date anything unless it suits themselves.
- Departments suited themselves about typefaces and headings.
- In a word, they were doing what every elite in unaccountable institutions do, doing what suited themselves.
1.2 (suit something to) archaic Adapt something to: they took care to suit their answers to the questions put to them
2Enhance the features, figure, or character of (someone): the dress didn’t suit her...
- Each voice suits the character's personality well.
- Stay fit, dress to suit our figure, get a flattering hairstyle, and enhance nature with the right touch of makeup.
- Robert is a very animated character, so Opera suits him for sure.
Synonyms
look attractive on, enhance the appearance of, look right on, look good on, become, flatter, show to advantage, set off, enhance, ornament, grace
informal do something for
3 [no object] North American Put on clothes, especially for a particular activity: I suited up and entered the water...
- I confidently unloaded the bike, suited up, and swung my leg over the bike to get rolling.
- And I think one of the things that has become very apparent is, we suited up for the war, but we didn't really suit up for the peace adequately.
- We got suited up with our life jackets, helmets and sprayskirts, and then put our kayaks in the water.
Phrases
suit the action to the word
suit someone's book
suit someone down to the ground
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French siwte, from a feminine past participle of a Romance verb based on Latin sequi 'follow'. Early senses included 'attendance at a court' and 'legal process'; sense 1 of the noun and sense 2 of the noun derive from an earlier meaning 'set of things to be used together'. The verb sense 'make appropriate' dates from the late 16th century.