Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - clothes

~ n plural the things that people wear to cover their body or keep warm  (I need some new clothes. | work/school clothes (=clothes suitable for work or school))  ( USAGE NOTE: CLOTHES WORD CHOICE clothes, clothing, piece/item of clothing, garment, something to wear, cloth, material, fabric, dress Clothes is the usual word for things we wear She's got some beautiful clothes (NOT cloths). Clothing is a more formal word for clothes in general The workers here all have to wear protective clothing (NOT clothings).).| a clothes/clothing shop. When you are talking about clothes for a particular event, you often say something to wear It's Gloria's wedding tomorrow and I haven't got anything to wear (=I have no suitable clothes). Clothes is not used with numbers, and in conversation if you want to talk about one piece/item of clothing you would usually call it by its name I want to buy a new coat (NOT a new cloth/clothing). Garment is a rather formal word for a single piece of clothing. On a shop notice Only three garments may be taken into the fitting room (NOT three clothes). Clothes are made from various kinds of material, fabric or cloth , such as woven wool, silk, cotton or acrylic I brought back a lovely piece of cloth from Thailand to make a dress out of. A cloth ( with plural cloths) is a piece of cloth, used for cleaning surfaces, dishes etc Oh dear, I've spilt my beer - have you got a cloth? A dress is a kind of clothing worn by women What a pretty dress she's wearing! In certain expressions dress is used to mean a particular type of clothes. The men were expected to wear casual dress/formal evening dress/national dress/fancy dress for the dinner. )