What does "suit" mean?
A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
Suit
/suːt/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
- Grammar: suit is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: lawsuit, accommodate, accommodate, accommodate with.
- Useful contrasts: casual wear, counteraction, counteractions.
- Usage evidence: Your shoes do not go with the suit.
How to use "suit"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "suit" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "suit" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "suit" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "suit" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "suit" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "lawsuit" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "suit", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
"A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe."
- 2 a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy wordnet
- 3 A garment or set of garments suitable and/or required for a given task or activity: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit, swimsuit. broadly
- 4 a set of garments (usually including a jacket and trousers or skirt) for outerwear all of the same fabric and color wordnet
- 5 A dress. Pakistan
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 playing card in any of four sets of 13 cards in a pack; each set has its own symbol and color wordnet
- 7 A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor. derogatory, metonymically, slang
"Be sure to keep your nose to the grindstone today; the suits are making a "surprise" visit to this department."
- 8 a petition or appeal made to a person of superior status or rank wordnet
- 9 A full set of armour.
- 10 a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of a woman (usually with the hope of marriage) wordnet
- 11 The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
"If you take my advice, you'll file a suit against him immediately."
- 12 (slang) a businessman dressed in a business suit wordnet
- 13 Petition, request, entreaty.
"Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes]. I marrie am I: haue you any ſute to me? Tam[burlaine]. I woulde intreate you to ſpeake but three wiſe wordes."
- 14 The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase. obsolete
- 15 Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.
"Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end."
- 16 The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal. obsolete
"Thenceforth the suitt of earthly conquest shonne."
- 17 The full set of sails required for a ship.
- 18 Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by colour and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs of traditional Anglo, Hispanic, and French playing cards.
"To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences."
- 19 Regular order; succession. obsolete
"Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again."
- 20 A company of attendants or followers; a retinue. archaic
- 21 A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.) archaic
""You must wear these to-day, my dear child," said Lord Norbourne, as, entering the dressing-room of his daughter, he laid a suit of pearls on her table"
Verb
- 1 To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit. transitive
"but let your owne Diſcretion be your Tutor: Sute the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action,"
- 2 accord or comport with wordnet
- 3 To be suitable or apt for one's image. transitive
"The ripped jeans didn't suit her elegant image."
- 4 be agreeable or acceptable to wordnet
- 5 To be appropriate or apt for. figuratively, transitive
"The nickname "Bullet" suits her, since she is a fast runner."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 enhance the appearance of wordnet
- 7 To dress; to clothe. intransitive
"So went he suited to his watery tomb."
- 8 be agreeable or acceptable wordnet
- 9 To please; to make content; to fit someone's (or one's own) taste. intransitive, transitive
"will build to suit [on for-sale signs marking vacant lots]"
- 10 To agree; to be fitted; to correspond (usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with). intransitive
"The place itself was suiting to his care."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Your shoes do not go with the suit."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "suit"?
Common synonyms include: lawsuit, accommodate, accommodate, accommodate with, accord, accouter.
How do you use "suit" in a sentence?
Your shoes do not go with the suit.
How do you pronounce "suit"?
Pronounced /suːt/.
Etymology
From Middle English sute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suite and Old French sieute, siute (modern suite), originally a participle adjective from Vulgar Latin *sequita (for secūta), from Latin sequi (“to follow”), because the component garments "follow each other", i.e. are worn together. See also the doublet suite. Cognate with Italian seguire and Spanish seguir. Related to sue and segue.