Sunday best
7
4.1
- noun
:
ropa de domingo
- Put on your Sunday best.
- wearing my Sunday best
- put on your Sunday best
- dressed in their Sunday best
And you know, Jamaicans, they dress up in their Sunday best when they're coming to football.
- And you know, Jamaicans, they dress up in their Sunday best when they're coming to football.
- Hey everyone OK so here I am in my Sunday best.
Examples
-
You could feel the pride they felt having us dressed in our Sunday best, clean, hair combed and curled, ribbons attached.
Blog text (25) -
Every member of the congregation arrived in their Sunday best for the service.
-
l ask that all the girls be wearing their Sunday best.
-
Those were his Sunday best.
-
Just get all dressed up in your Sunday best and leave.
-
I'll walk by with my kids in their Sunday best.
-
Men, women, and children dressed in their Sunday best.
Fiction book (1996) -
When there's important guests, we sing and get to wear our Sunday best.
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I've dressed him in his Sunday best.
-
The girls were dressed in their Sunday best, and the fathers traded in their yellow and blue jumpsuits for shirts and ties.
Synonyms
2
3.0
The best, most formal clothes someone wears for church or important events
1
9.3
Clothes you wear for church or other special events
1
7.2
Clothes you wear to church or other special events
1
9.9
The best clothes a person wears for a special event
Antonyms
How Formal
- Formal
2
7.0
- Formal
12
3.7
7
4.1
8
1.8
81
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'best' modifies 'Sunday', so a learner can infer it means the finest/most suitable things associated with Sunday (typically clothing worn to church or special occasions). This cultural practice of wearing one’s best on a worship or holiday day exists in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows 'Sunday' and 'best' will very likely deduce the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase Sunday best comes from the old habit of wearing your nicest clothes to church on Sunday. Because people saved their best clothes for that day, Sunday best now means 'one's finest clothes' for special occasions.