dressed

1. 1
   adjective

   Wearing clothes; attired. Now most often used with a qualifying word, such as fully dressed, well dressed, or dressed in black.

   She had showered and was dressed by six, long before her alarm went off.

   The hikers arrived at the trailhead dressed for cold weather.

   Similarclothed, attired, clad, garbed

   Oppositenaked, undressed, unclothed, nude

2. 2
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of dress.

   The nurse dressed the wound before the doctor arrived.

   The children had been dressed in costumes an hour before the play began.

   Note

   One spelling does several jobs. It is the simple past (she dressed the children), the participle after have or in the passive (they had been dressed), and the base of the adjectives that grow from it. The preposition usually shows which dressing is meant: dressed in green is clothing, dressed with lettuce is food. In Stevenson's Treasure Island it is a wound that was "still more recently dressed."

3. 3
   adjective

   Having undergone a preparatory process or treatment; treated or prepared for use.

   Quarries sell both rough blocks and dressed stone ready for masonry work.

   The workshop buys only dressed hides, already tanned and finished.

   Similarprepared, finished, treated, hewn

   Oppositerough, raw, untreated

4. 4
   adjective

   Of food, made ready to eat, especially by adding a dressing, sauce, or particular condiments.

   Serve the greens lightly dressed with vinaigrette so they don't wilt.

   The po'boy arrived dressed: lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise.

   Similarseasoned, garnished

   Oppositeplain

5. 5
   adjectivein compounds

   Wearing a dress, as distinct from other clothing.

   The portrait shows her dressed, the gown falling in pale folds to the floor.

   Half the bridesmaids arrived dressed and the rest wore jumpsuits.

   Similargowned

   Note

   Here the word works almost only in combination, with an adjective joined to its front and hyphenated before a noun, as in Leslie Thomas's Other Times (1999): "a night for long-dressed ladies and uniforms." The adjective describes the gown, so long-dressed means wearing a long dress, not dressed for a long time. Keep it apart from the general "clothed" meaning, where well dressed praises the whole outfit.

   Long-dressed guests drifted across the ballroom after midnight.

   The photograph shows two long-dressed women beside a horse-drawn wagon.

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