phrasal verb🧩 phrasal verb

dress up

to wear formal clothes

What it means

To wear formal, smart, or fancy clothes for an occasion. It can also mean to put on a costume for fun, especially for children or parties.

Examples

  • We're dressing up for the wedding, so please wear a suit.
  • The kids love to dress up as their favourite cartoon characters.
  • She dressed up her plain black dress with a sparkly belt.
  • You don't need to dress up; it's just a casual dinner at home.

Where it comes from

Separable, especially when adding details ("dress up an outfit"). The opposite is 'dress down', meaning to wear more casual clothes than usual.

Related phrasal verbs

#put on#try on#show off#show up

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