black tie
12
3.7
- noun
- /blæk taɪ/
- Formal
:
etiqueta
- The invitation said black tie, so I need to wear my tuxedo.
- black tie event
- black-tie dinner
- black-tie gala
For me it is black tie, long sleeves, and floor length gowns.
- For me it is black tie, long sleeves, and floor length gowns.
Examples
-
He knew Greta was planning to attend a black-tie dinner at the club.
Fiction book (1991) -
The invitation said black tie, not black eye.
-
Uh, he gets to go to some black tie event.
-
Okay, I love black tie parties.
-
Well, dinner at eight, black tie.
-
You and I will be attending a black tie charity benefit tonight.
-
The guests, of whom there are a couple hundred, in black tie and evening gowns, are entering the receiving area.
Fiction book (1995) -
Most of the men wore black tie, the more adventuresome showing a dab of color at the waist.
Fiction book (1995) -
As they disembarked, an elegant, sharp-faced man in black tie and evening clothes stepped forward at the gate and pronounced her name.
Fiction book (2001) -
A waiter in a short black jacket and a narrow black tie, his blond hair tied back in a braid, placed my lunch in front of me with a casual flourish.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
80
3.0
A formal black jacket and matching trousers worn for evening events
80
3.7
A man's formal black jacket and matching trousers worn for evening events
11
4.4
Requiring formal evening clothes like a tuxedo and bow tie for men
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is built from fully transparent words ('black' + 'tie') so a learner will understand the literal sense 'a tie that is black', but the conventionalized meaning referring to a formal evening dress code is a culturalized, metonymic extension that is not strictly derivable from the parts. Context often helps, but a B1 learner who only knows the constituents is unlikely to predict the institutionalized 'formal dress code' sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
The noun black tie comes from the simple idea of men wearing a dark dinner jacket with a black bow tie to evening parties. Because people who wore this outfit had to dress up, invitations that say black tie now tell guests to wear 'formal' or 'semi-formal' clothes.