Sunday clothes
2
3.0
- noun
:
ropa de domingo
- The children were excited to wear their Sunday clothes for the special church service.
- wearing Sunday clothes
- dressed in Sunday clothes
Examples
-
The children of South Hollier stood close to their parents, in their Sunday clothes, confused and frightened.
Blog text (17) -
Want to know what I was going to do before I ruined my best Sunday clothes?
-
---and l got on my best Sunday clothes----
-
You have your Sunday clothes on!
-
I bet they're not your best Sunday clothes.
-
When Step got up at eight o'clock, he found the children already dressed in their Sunday clothes, eating breakfast.
Fiction book (1992) -
I see a tall boy on a red horse, saddleless, his Sunday clothes immaculate, riding home.
Fiction book (1996) -
They walked stiffly in their Sunday clothes, drifting toward church.
Fiction book (1990) -
After getting ready, he admired himself in the mirror, pleased with his Sunday clothes for the family gathering.
-
She bought a new dress for the wedding, ensuring it was her best Sunday clothes.
Synonyms
7
4.1
Clothes you wear for church or special events
1
9.3
Clothes you wear for church or other special events
1
7.2
Clothes you wear to church or other special events
1
9.9
The best clothes a person wears for a special event
Antonyms
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally transparent: 'Sunday' (the worship/sabbath day) combined with 'clothes' naturally yields 'clothes worn on Sunday', which commonly implies one's best or more formal garments for church or special occasions. This cultural pattern (e.g., 'Sunday best') is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents is likely to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Sunday clothes comes from the old habit of wearing your best clothes to church on Sunday, and families often kept those special clothes only for that day. So, Sunday clothes now means the 'best' or most formal clothes people save for important occasions.