button-down dress
- noun
- /ˈbʌtənˌdaʊn drɛs/
- The new collection features a button-down dress in several floral prints.
Examples
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She wore a stylish button-down dress to the party that featured a floral print.
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She wore a button-down dress to the party.
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A classic button-down dress can be dressed up or down for different occasions.
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She wore a button-down dress to the job interview, making a smart first impression.
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Is that a button-down dress you bought last week?
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The button-down dress was perfect for the warm summer day with its lightweight fabric.
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He complimented her on the elegant button-down dress she had chosen for the wedding.
Synonyms
A one-piece outfit for women or girls with a top and skirt
A woman's or girl's one-piece dress with a skirt and fitted top
A woman's blouse that looks like a shirt with a fitted waist popular in the early 1900s
A dress for women that looks like a shirt with a collar and front buttons
A woman's dress that looks like a coat with buttons down the front
A dress or blouse with buttons down the front like a shirt
How Formal
- Archaic
Surface Forms
Morphology
button-down + dress
The meaning is directly compositional: 'button-down' describes having buttons running down the front and 'dress' names the garment, so the combined phrase denotes a dress with front buttons. A B1 learner who knows 'button' and 'down' and basic adjective–noun compounding can readily infer this meaning; the construction is common cross-linguistically and not idiomatic.
Etymology
Button-down dress gets its name from a simple picture: it is a dress with buttons running down the front, like a shirt you can 'open' and 'close'. So the name tells you it is a dress with a collar and 'buttons running down the front'.