underdressed

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌʌndɚˈdrɛst/ UK /ˌʌndəˈdrɛst/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
dressed too casually or lightly for an occasion

In jeans at the gala, he felt badly underdressed.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · dressed too casually or... casual informal

Opposites

overdressed formal

Word family

Related forms dress dressed dressing

Etymology

From under- ('insufficiently') + dressed, past participle of dress, from Old French dresser ('to arrange, set up'), ultimately from Latin directus ('straight, direct'), from dirigere ('to direct').

under Old English dresser Old French directus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# underdressed

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌʌndɚˈdrɛst/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌʌndəˈdrɛst/

## Meanings
1. dressed too casually or lightly for an occasion

## Examples
- In jeans at the gala, he felt badly underdressed.

## Synonyms
- casual
- informal

## Antonyms
- overdressed
- formal

## Related Forms
- dress
- dressed
- dressing

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: under
- Root: dresser
- Root: directus

## Etymology
From under- ('insufficiently') + dressed, past participle of dress, from Old French dresser ('to arrange, set up'), ultimately from Latin directus ('straight, direct'), from dirigere ('to direct').

## AI Etymology
Underdressed is from under- ('insufficiently') + dressed, past participle of dress, from Old French dresser ('to arrange, set up'), ultimately from Latin directus ('straight, direct'), from dirigere ('to direct'). Important recorded forms include under (Old English), dresser (Old French), and directus (Latin). Morphologically, the under- element contributes the sense of beneath, lower rank, concealment, or insufficiency, depending on the base it modifies. The modern sense continues the older lexical line without requiring a separate origin. In current use it covers dressed too casually or lightly for an occasion. The wider family includes related words such as dress, dressed, and dressing.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown