duds

2 8.0

Clothes people wear for casual, everyday use

noun
/dʌdz/

: ropa

MATCHING PRIMO EARTH-TONE DUDS.
Milk Duds
box of Milk Duds

So that's like a quick little Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving duds, not hot products for Thanksgiving.

Examples

HEY, COOL DUDS.

Ringmaster (1998)
BOY, IF ANYBODY SEES US IN THESE FANCY DUDS, WE'RE GONERS FOR SURE.

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)
DEFINITELY NEW DUDS.

Slow Burn (2000)
She wore her favorite duds to the casual party and felt comfortable all night.
He always looks stylish in his new duds when he goes to the weekend market.
After a long week, she finally got to wear her comfy duds while relaxing at home.

Synonyms

street clothes

vsduds

8 1.8

Everyday clothes you wear in public, not a uniform

is more casual and playful rather than merely ordinary public wear

threads

vsduds

Slang

1 8.3

Clothes you wear that look smart or stylish

is more playful and lighthearted in tone when naming clothes

togs

vsduds

9.2

Clothes people wear, often for going out or special events

is more playful or teasing when referring to clothing

duddies

vsduds

Archaic

9.9

An old word for clothes

is used in modern casual speech with a playful tone

Antonyms

formal

1 3.5

A dress, suit, or gown people wear for special occasions

How Formal

formal

1 3.5

work clothes

11 1.6

duds

2 8.0

loungewear

1 3.2

Surface Forms

duds singular

Morphology

duds = dud (opaque) = dud + s

Although 'duds' is simply the plural of 'dud', the slang sense 'clothes' is informal and not predictable from more common senses of 'dud', so learners cannot reliably infer the meaning from the base.

Etymology

Duds comes from an old English word dud that meant 'rag' or 'cloak'. So, duds came to mean 'clothes' — imagine the old word for rags growing into the everyday word for what you wear.