Hawaiian shirt

noun

: a usually short-sleeved sport shirt with a colorful pattern

Examples of Hawaiian shirt in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Up walked a thirty-one-year-old government worker in a green Hawaiian shirt and a dark hoodie. — Dan Greene, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026 If a Piña Colada is a Hawaiian shirt, garish and lurid, then the Coco de Agua is a white linen suit—still rum, lime, and coconut, but clean and fitted. — Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 27 June 2026 Moe showed up at the news conference announcing his firing from Denver despite never having a losing season and never missing the playoffs wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt. — Mike Monroe, San Antonio Express-News, 17 Feb. 2026 Don your brightest Hawaiian shirt, eat a UHF Twinkie hotdog, and relish the blitz of his accordion pastiches and nonstop costume changes. — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 8 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for Hawaiian shirt

Word History

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Hawaiian shirt was in 1952

Rhymes for Hawaiian shirt

See All Rhymes for Hawaiian shirt

Browse Nearby Words

Hawaiian mahogany
Hawaiian shirt
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hawaiian shirt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hawaiian%20shirt. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All