PLAIN CLOTHES

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plain clothes mean? 

• PLAIN CLOTHES (noun)
  The noun PLAIN CLOTHES has 1 sense:

1. ordinary clothing as distinguished from uniforms, work clothes, clerical garb, etc.

  Familiarity information: PLAIN CLOTHES used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLAIN CLOTHES (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ordinary clothing as distinguished from uniforms, work clothes, clerical garb, etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

civilian clothing; civilian dress; civilian garb; plain clothes

Hypernyms ("plain clothes" is a kind of...):

article of clothing; clothing; habiliment; vesture; wear; wearable (a covering designed to be worn on a person's body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plain clothes"):

civies; civvies (civilian garb as opposed to a military uniform)

mufti (civilian dress worn by a person who is entitled to wear a military uniform)

 Context examples 

You could not walk the streets without catching sight of the gipsy-faced, keen-eyed men whose plain clothes told of their thin purses as plainly as their listless air showed their weariness of a life of forced and unaccustomed inaction.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)