Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, appropriate for, or requiring full dress; formal.
  • adjective Complete in every respect.
  • adjective Characterized by exhaustive thoroughness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Appropriate to occasions of form or ceremony: as, a full-dress costume. See full dress, under dress.
  • Formal; elaborate; requiring full dress: as, a, full-dress reception.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun full evening dress for men.
  • adjective suitable for formal occasions.
  • adjective requiring formal clothes; -- of a social event.
  • adjective complete in every respect, including formalities; ; a full-dress investigation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of an occasion) requiring formal clothes
  • adjective suitable for formal occasions
  • adjective complete in every respect

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In another picture taken the same year, there is only one person on the sidewalk in front of the Eastern Air Lines building in Rockefeller Plaza, a doorman wearing a full-dress uniform cap.

    Mother of the Unconventional William Meyers 2011

  • Donald Alston, a large, somewhat florid-faced man in full-dress Air Force uniform.

    How the End Begins Ron Rosenbaum 2011

  • After the Great Avatar-Betsey Johnson blowout on Thursday, I don't have it in me to do a full-dress review of the two (!) things we saw last night.

    My Friday, By Delia deliasherman 2010

  • Until now these were divided between an hourlong documentary and a full-dress performance, both brilliantly conceived, executed, filmed and edited.

    Bringing Mahler to the Masses David Littlejohn 2011

  • The influence of top-tier producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose credits include the Oscar-winning movie version of Chicago, can be felt in those razzle-dazzling moments when a sweaty rehearsal suddenly shifts into a full-dress production number, the dream realized if only in their heads for now.

    Monday TV in Review: Smash's Opening Night, Plus House, Castle, and More 2012

  • After the Great Avatar-Betsey Johnson blowout on Thursday, I don't have it in me to do a full-dress review of the two (!) things we saw last night.

    My Friday, By Delia deliasherman 2010

  • Five years of full-dress dinners, Latin grammar, lacrosse, and daily chapel, lacquered me to a glossy Boston-Episcopalian sheen, so that by the time I arrived at Dartmouth

    Daniyal Mueenuddin talks about his life and his first collection of short stories In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. 2010

  • Donald Alston, a large, somewhat florid-faced man in full-dress Air Force uniform.

    How the End Begins Ron Rosenbaum 2011

  • This is the first full-dress show in Britain for half a century.

    Gauguin: Maker of Myth Laura Cumming 2010

  • On the idea of a full-dress debate, Keefer said, "I'm certain there was never any mention of an audience."

    Why no debates in the Mikulski-Wargotz race? Ben Pershing 2010

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