Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🍨 With ice cream 👗 Fashionable
a la mode

a la mode

7.4
In the current style that many people like
  • idiom
  • /ˌɑː lə ˈmoʊd/
translation icon : de moda
  • These shoes are considered a la mode this season, so everyone wants a pair.

Examples

  • The designer always ensures his collections are a la mode and appeal to modern tastes.

  • This hairstyle is considered a la mode this season.

  • Her dress was definitely a la mode and caught everyone's attention at the party.

  • The new dress is very a la mode.

  • Her dress was definitely a la mode and caught everyone's attention at the party.

  • The designer always ensures his collections are a la mode and appeal to modern tastes.

  • These shoes are considered a la mode this season, so everyone wants a pair.

Synonyms

fashionable
vsa la mode
85 2.6

Popular now because it follows the current style

names the general quality of being stylish at present
in style
vsa la mode
51 2.9

Like what is fashionable now

is the neutral phrase for being fashionable now
in fashion
vsa la mode
27 2.6

Popular and seen as stylish now

focuses on being in the current style rather than general popularity
in vogue
vsa la mode
10 3.8

Fashionable and popular now

is the broader idea of current fashion beyond a single circle
on trend
vsa la mode
3 3.7

Fashionable and popular right now

means fashionable but stresses the newest or latest fashions
in
vsa la mode
1 2.5

Popular now with many people

uses the same meaning but a different expression
modish
vsa la mode
1 7.4

A thing that is in style and popular now like clothes or hair

is more general, meaning fashionable without stressing conformity
ultra-fashionable
vsa la mode
4.4

Very stylish and popular with people who follow new fashions

is simply fashionable without the extreme emphasis

Antonyms

outdated
78 5.0

No longer useful or fashionable because it is old

unfashionable
8 3.7

Few people wear it now because it is not in style

How Fashionable

trendy
64 3.1
stylish
85 2.0
a la mode
7.4
in fashion
27 2.6

Surface Forms

a la mode positive

Morphology

a + la + mode

This is a fixed borrowing from French (à la mode) rather than a compositional English phrase: the elements 'a' and 'la' are not meaningful English constituents and English 'mode' is not a high-frequency cue for 'fashionable' to a B1 learner. Because the overall meaning ('in fashion') cannot be reliably inferred from the apparent parts without prior exposure to the idiom, it is not transparently derivable.

Etymology

A la mode comes from French; the word mode means 'fashion', so the phrase literally says 'in the fashion'. That's why a la mode is used to mean 'in style' or 'fashionable' today.