dressed to impress
1
5.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
vestido para impresionar
- He always makes sure he is dressed to impress when attending important social events.
Examples
-
At the gala, everyone was dressed to impress, showcasing their most elegant outfits.
-
K: I'm dressed to impress.
Blog text (11) -
How would it look if I didn't dress to impress?
-
Dressed to impress, huh?
-
Dress to impress, Lewis.
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you're dressed to impress don't know where you'll wind up
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She's dressed to impress.
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You're dressed to impress, and you've brought along copies of your resume and samples of your work.
Blog text (32) -
For her job interview, Jenna was dressed to impress in a tailored suit and stylish heels.
Synonyms
82
2.7
Wearing special formal clothes for a party or event
29
2.4
Wearing neat, clean clothes that look smart, like a suit or nice shirt
8
3.2
Bright or fancy in a way that draws attention
3
7.6
Wearing very elegant formal clothes for a special occasion
1
6.8
Wearing very attractive, stylish clothes to get people's attention
1
6.3
Dressed in smart, formal clothes for a special event
Wearing stylish, elegant clothes
Wearing smart clothes for a special event
Antonyms
How Impressive
- Informal
1
6.8
- Informal
1
5.6
29
2.4
127
2.4
81
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'dressed' (wearing clothes) plus the infinitival purpose phrase 'to impress' yields 'wearing clothing in order to make a favorable impression.' The infinitive-of-purpose construction is a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Dressed to impress shows the simple picture of someone putting on their best clothes (dressed) to catch other people's eye and make them feel admiration (impress). That's why it means 'to attract attention' or 'make a good impression'.