fancy dress
(uncountable) Formalwear.
Seen in the wild
And on today’s episode of bread and circus you can watch the 1% do fancy dress!!!
Mum called with great excitement saying that she had found some sweeties shaped like eyeballs, I thought she was buying them for the grandchildren but it turns out she is in Lourdes and there is a fancy dress competit…
It's a trick question, they are all squirrels just two are in fancy dress because it's Halloween.
Definitions
(uncountable) Formalwear.
And yet here he was, if one could credit one's senses, about to take part in a fancy-dress ball, a form of entertainment notoriously a testing experience for the toughest. And he was attending that fancy-dress ball, mark you--not, like e…
“And on today’s episode of bread and circus you can watch the 1% do fancy dress!!!”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Mum called with great excitement saying that she had found some sweeties shaped like eyeballs, I thought she was buying them for the grandchildren but it turns out she is in Lourdes and there is a fancy dress competition tonight and she is now going as St Lucy. catholic fun.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(UK, Australia) A costume, disguise to masquerade as something or someone else.
And yet here he was, if one could credit one's senses, about to take part in a fancy-dress ball, a form of entertainment notoriously a testing experience for the toughest. And he was attending that fancy-dress ball, mark you--not, like e…
Fancy dress means: A costume, disguise to masquerade as something or someone else.. It is mainly Australian English and may not be understood outside that context. It has drug-related associations; worth a calm conversation about which side of the topic your teen is on. If your teen uses it, context will usually make the intent clear. A short, curious question about where they heard it is usually all that is needed to know whether to follow up.
fancy dress means: A costume, disguise to masquerade as something or someone else.. Register: very informal, often derogatory or vulgar. Avoid in formal, business, academic, or polite writing. Even in casual speech the word can offend and is best left out of a learner's active vocabulary. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.
“It's a trick question, they are all squirrels just two are in fancy dress because it's Halloween.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Semantically related
- fancy pants69%
(US) A person wearing fancy clothing; a member of a social elite.
- gussy up68%
(informal, intransitive) To don fancy clothing; to dress up particularly in flattering or specially altered garments.
- glad rags67%
(slang) Formal attire, dress clothes.
- fancy pants66%
A person very concerned with their appearance.