clothe

clothe — verb

1. to give a person the clothing they need to wear, often because they cannot get i

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to give a person the clothing they need to wear, often because they cannot get it for themselves — for example, a charity clothing the homeless, or a parent clothing a child.

Example

Each winter the charity clothes nearly three hundred children in the city.

transitive: clothe + numerical direct object

Leila works two jobs just to clothe and feed her elderly parents.

Common collocations
  • clothe the poor / the homeless / refugees
  • clothe someone in something
  • clothe and feed
  • warmly clothed
  • adequately clothed
Synonyms
  • dress

    everyday word for putting clothes on; less formal than clothe and more common in daily routines

  • outfit

    to provide with a complete set of clothes, often for a specific purpose (e.g., outfitting a team)

  • attire

    formal synonym, often used in writing or special occasions

Antonyms
  • undress

    to remove clothes from someone

  • strip

    to take all clothes off, often forcibly

Grammar Patterns

clothe + direct object

clothe + object + in/with + garment or material

Usage Note

Frequently used in humanitarian or caregiving contexts (charities, parents, aid organizations). Unlike dress, clothe typically stresses the provision or supply of garments rather than the physical act of putting them on. This sense is rarely used reflexively — I clothed myself sounds unnatural in everyday speech.

Common Mistakes

I bought new clothe for the party.
I bought new clothes for the party.
clothe is a verb; the noun meaning garments is clothes (always plural).
We need to cloth the refugees.
We need to clothe the refugees.
cloth (noun) is fabric; clothe (verb) means to provide garments.
She clothed her baby and went to the park.
She dressed her baby and went to the park.
clothe suggests supplying or providing, not the routine daily act of putting clothes on someone.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Dress is the most common everyday word — you dress yourself, dress a child, or dress for an occasion; it covers both the action of putting on clothes and the state of being clothed. Wear describes the state of having clothes on your body (I am wearing a coat), not the act of providing or putting them on. Put on focuses on the single action of placing a garment onto your body (she put on her shoes). Outfit suggests supplying a complete set of garments, often for a specific role or purpose (the team was outfitted with new uniforms). Clothe is distinct from all of these because it emphasizes the act of providing garments to someone who needs them — a parent clothes a child not just by dressing them each morning but by buying or supplying the clothes they need to wear.

dress ↗wear ↗put on ↗outfit

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • clothe and feed
  • feed, clothe, and shelter

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Clothe comes from the Old English verb clāþian, meaning 'to clothe or dress,' which itself was formed from the noun clāþ (cloth). The connection between cloth (woven material) and clothe (to supply someone with garments made from that material) has remained stable for over a thousand years. Cognates exist in other Germanic languages, such as Old Norse klæða and Old High German chlāthon.