fancy dress

Definitions

1. A costume, disguise to masquerade as something or someone else.
   Australia, UK, uncountable, usually
2. Formalwear.
   uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“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⟳ every other well-bred Englishman, as a Pierrot, but as Mephistopheles--this involving, as I need⟳ scarcely stress⟳, not only scarlet tights but a pretty frightful false beard.”

“Royal Mail worker Evette Chapman gathered a team of 12 colleagues to deliver⟳ post⟳ in fancy dress and raise⟳ money for a nurses' charity and patients in Musgrove Park⟳ Hospital, Taunton.”

CEFR level