short pants
5
1.0
- noun
- /ʃɔrt pænts/
:
pantalones cortos
- The basketball team wore their matching short pants for the game outdoors.
- wear short pants
Examples
-
We only met when I was a little boy in short pants.
-
And certainly, madame, we don't want young boys in short pants involved in situations like this.
-
Maybe it's because you have to wear short pants to play.
-
Next came a young man in short pants.
Fiction book (2000) -
A girl, also in short pants and wearing the top to a bathing suit, was headed their way.
Fiction book (2000) -
And he's wearing short pants.
-
The boy is wearing short pants and a blue striped necktie; the girl has bangs and what appear to be far too many tiny teeth.
Academic text (1999) -
Oddly, the only individual who appeared mature in the elegant room full of badly acting grown-ups was a twelve-year-old wearing short pants.
Fiction book (2002) -
The little kids all wore sunsuits with short pants and squinted into the hot light from under the brims of pastel caps.
Fiction book (1997) -
On hot summer days, children love running around in short pants to keep cool.
Synonyms
9
1.1
Shorts that men or boys wear for swimming
3
2.5
Short trousers that reach to or just above the knee, often worn in warm weather
1
1.8
Short pants that end near the knee and people wear for swimming or boxing
1
1.0
Clothes worn on the lower body that end above the knee and have two separate legs
1
9.9
Short trousers that reach to the knee and are often worn by boys
1
9.9
Trousers that end above the knee and fasten below it
Short pants that end at the knee and are worn for sport or hot weather
Short trousers that end above the knee, often worn by boys or for sports
Antonyms
How Short
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'trousers that end at or above the knee' is directly and compositionally derived from 'short' (of small length) + 'pants' (trousers). This is a straightforward adjective+noun combination following normal English compounding patterns and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents (e.g., Spanish 'pantalones cortos'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Short pants comes from the simple idea of cutting regular pants so they are 'short' and end above the knee. That's why it means 'trousers that end at or above the knee', often worn in warm weather.