funeral attire
- noun
- /ˈfjuːnərəl əˈtaɪər/
:
atuendo de funeral
- So there I was, still dressed in my funeral attire, sitting on the couch, waiting to receive my gift while my girlfriend grabbed it from the bedroom.
Examples
-
She chose a simple black dress as her funeral attire for the solemn occasion.
-
Taterimchi quickly dressed himself in his funeral attire: his lambskin hat, Khivan robe, black topcoat, leather boots, and overshoes.
Fiction book (1996) -
Everyone at the service was dressed in appropriate funeral attire, wearing dark colors to show respect.
-
The family requested that guests wear funeral attire to honor their loved one during the memorial service.
Synonyms
26
1.0
A dress that is black and often worn for formal or special occasions
11
1.4
Clothes worn to show mourning after someone's death
3
3.6
Clothes for special events in the evening, like suits or long dresses
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'clothing appropriate for a funeral' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'funeral' (a ceremony for the dead) with 'attire' (clothing for particular occasions). This simple noun–noun composition follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Funeral attire comes from the old custom of wearing dark, formal clothes to a funeral. That attire showed 'mourning' and respect, so the phrase means 'clothing considered appropriate to wear at a funeral'.