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Glite Dictionary
👕 To dress too casually 🥶 To wear too little
to underdress

to underdress

5.6
To wear clothes that are not warm enough for the weather
  • verb
  • /ˌʌndərˈdrɛs/
translation icon : no abrigar
  • They looked out of place, underdressed in their summer clothes at the evening gala.

Examples

  • She realized she was underdressed for the winter party in just a light sweater.

  • Santa himself is still rather underdressed in his drawers and complaining of the cold.

    Blog text (24)

  • A panhandler, underdressed for the cold, has been hustling the customers as they come out; a couple of parking attendants are trying to drag him discreetly away as Bruce's car pulls up.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He felt uncomfortable because he was underdressed in shorts on a chilly day.

Antonyms

to overdress
1 3.9

To wear more clothes than needed so you become too warm

How Warm

to overdress
1 3.9
to bundle up
5 2.4
to dress
∞ 1.0
to underdress
5.6

Surface Forms

underdress infinitive
underdressed past
underdressed past participle
underdressing present participle
underdresses third person singular

Morphology

underdress = dress (transparent) = under + dress

The sense is a direct use of 'under-' (insufficiently) with 'dress' (to wear clothing), so the relation is transparent.

Etymology

Underdress comes from the parts under- meaning 'not enough' and dress meaning 'clothes', just like in undercooked. So, to underdress for the weather is to wear too little clothing and risk feeling cold.