tenue de ville

Definitions

Clothing suitable for an office or business setting, such as a business suit or skirt suit.

rare, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“No one would imagine⟳ that a man in an ice cream suit⟳ and a blue shirt, a tenue de ville as specified by his hostess, his arms full of liquor bottles, would have⟳ a bad conscience because he had failed to notice⟳ thunderheads on the horizon — but such was life in Llewellyn Group.”

“When it's needed, the priest, in tenue de ville, takes it from his pocket, unfolds it, kisses it, says a prayer, and then places it about his neck.”

“We have⟳ inherited only the remnants of this period: for example, in the form⟳ of uncertainty in dress etiquette that stresses us out when we read⟳ 'Tenue de Ville' on an invitation. What on earth am I going to wear⟳, we hear⟳ ourselves saying?”

CEFR level