How to Use fancy dress in a Sentence

fancy dress

noun
  • Everyone wore fancy dress for the ball.
  • Of course, some people never gave up on fancy dress in the first place.
    — Lynn Yaeger, Vogue, 23 Nov. 2020
  • This relaxed style makes packing fancy dress clothes much less of a chore.
    — Larry Olmsted, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024
  • But, a quince isn’t just about the flashy party, the decadent cakes and fancy dress.
    — Thalia Juarez, Washington Post, 15 June 2019
  • Aren’t red carpets for taking pics of celebs in fancy dresses and suits?
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 24 May 2024
  • That means fancy dresses, limos, corsages, and all-night dance parties with your best friends.
    — Teen Vogue, 9 May 2018
  • No need for a fancy dress or tuxedo for this opera experience.
    — Laura Daily and Bryan K. Chavez, The Denver Post, 1 Mar. 2025
  • But make no mistake – the fancy dress and formal tableware does not mean the tents aren’t festive.
    — USA TODAY, 10 July 2023
  • His funeral will call for fancy dress, and the men will have to dress like women and the women will have to dress like men.
    — Taffy Brodesser-Akner, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2017
  • This is before Victorian times with tons of black crepe and fancy dress.
    — Kevin Dayhoff, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 16 Oct. 2021
  • Ishmat thinks Fred wants a fancy dress but Fred longs to wear a powder-blue tuxedo.
    — Amy Amatangelo, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2021
  • This isn't the first time Grace has gotten to wear a fancy dress while cheering on her favorite uncle.
    — Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Girls with long hair and fancy dresses, their arms draped around one another’s shoulders, smiling wide.
    — New York Times, 21 May 2020
  • His pictures of words go from logotypes dressed in native garb to free spirits in fancy dress to teams in uniform.
    — Susan Tallman, The New York Review of Books, 2 Nov. 2023
  • The caftans gave way to fancier dresses, like a stunning embroidered moire gown in a peacock hue.
    — Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Guests came in all attires, from fancy dresses and button-down shirts to leggings and Crocs, as there is no hard dress code.
    — Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 8 Jan. 2025
  • Is this a normal way for younger brothers to react to seeing their sisters in fancy dresses and a lot of makeup?
    — Morgan Baila, refinery29.com, 22 June 2018
  • The day of the event, which this year is May 5, is a festive party of large hats, fancy dress, mint juleps, and auctions.
    — Michael Walsh, Courant Community, 1 May 2018
  • Race day is sensory overload; a heaving throng in shorts and sneakers, in charity tops and fancy dress.
    — George Caulkin, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Speaking of movies with royalty and fancy dresses, here’s the trailer for a film that looks very weird in a very different way.
    — Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge, 8 Sep. 2018
  • Then suddenly, what was naked became fancy dress in Cannes, in 1998.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2021
  • Her grandmother used to make fancy dresses and clothing, her grandpa did sketches,and her mother is a quilter.
    — Karen Pilarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Nov. 2019
  • One of the most recent uploads involved photos of her first foray into fancy dress for Halloween.
    — Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 23 Nov. 2023
  • There’s a pretty playground with a zip wire, a tennis court floating on a lake and a vast beamed attic filled with board games, snooker and trunks of fancy dress.
    — Lydia Bell, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Ishikawa is often seen photographed wearing fancy dresses and flowing skirts paired with sneakers—a way to rebel against society’s rules.
    — Vivian Rachelle, Quartz, 29 Aug. 2019
  • The HerDress experience is more than posing for the camera in a fancy dress.
    — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 5 Jan. 2022
  • Cora asks to relieve herself and makes a joke about ruining the fancy dress, a middle finger to Ridgeway.
    — Steffan Triplett, Vulture, 16 May 2021
  • All this means that the demand for bunting, tablecloths, fancy dress and food will create a peak opportunity for the nation’s retailers.
    — Kate Hardcastle, Forbes, 26 May 2022
  • All of the swells of Vienna are gathered for an intoxicating evening of fancy dress, fizzy wine and graceful waltzing.
    — Kyle Smith, WSJ, 12 Jan. 2023
  • Throughout Lang’s brief career, there were hints of fancy dress—of the little girl who rootles around in a box of grownup costumes, trying out one look after the next.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fancy dress.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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