in dishabille
- idiom
- /ɪn dɪʃəˈbɪl/
- NSFW
:
en deshabillé
- He felt comfortable lounging at home in dishabille, enjoying his lazy Sunday.
Examples
-
She was in dishabille, but was incidentally lovely.
Fiction book (1994) -
She answered the door in dishabille, wearing an old t-shirt and sweatpants.
-
Despite being in dishabille, she managed to look effortlessly elegant at the gathering.
Synonyms
40
3.0
Wearing only a few clothes with much of the body uncovered
21
6.1
Having messy hair, clothes, or things around them
13
5.1
Not neat in appearance, often with messy hair or clothes
1
4.6
Wearing only some clothes and showing parts of the body
1
9.9
A state of being partly dressed in a careless or relaxed way
A state of being partly or carelessly dressed
A person who is partly dressed, often wearing a loose robe at home
Antonyms
How Dressed
- Formal
1
3.5
- NSFW
- NSFW
10
6.5
- NSFW
982
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
in + dishabille
The meaning 'partly dressed or dressed in a careless manner' is directly derivable from the preposition 'in' combined with the noun 'dishabille' (a state of careless dress): it denotes being 'in a state of dishabille'. This follows the common English pattern 'in + [state/noun]' and is compositionally transparent, although 'dishabille' itself is a low-frequency borrowing.
Etymology
In dishabille comes from the French word dishabille, which means 'not dressed'. Imagine someone at home in a loose robe or with messy hair, so it now means 'partly dressed' or 'dressed in a careless way'.