suit

[ soot ]

noun

1. a set of clothing, armor, or the like, intended for wear together.
2. a set of men's garments of the same color and fabric, consisting of trousers, a jacket, and sometimes a vest.
3. a similarly matched set consisting of a skirt and jacket, and sometimes a topcoat or blouse, worn by women.
4. any costume worn for some special activity:

   a running suit.

5. Often suits. Slang. an executive, manager, or official, especially one regarded as a faceless decision maker.
6. Law. the act, the process, or an instance of suing in a court of law; legal prosecution; lawsuit.
7. Cards.
   1. one of the four sets or classes (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) into which a common deck of playing cards is divided.
   2. the aggregate of cards belonging to one of these sets held in a player's hand at one time:

      Spades were his long suit.

   3. one of various sets or classes into which less common decks of cards are divided, as lances, hammers, etc., found in certain decks formerly used or used in fortune telling.
8. suite ( defs 1, 2, 3, 5 ).
9. the wooing or courting of a woman:

   She rejected his suit.

10. the act of making a petition or an appeal.
11. a petition, as to a person of rank or station.
12. Also called set. Nautical. a complete group of sails for a boat.
13. one of the seven classes into which a standard set of 28 dominoes may be divided by matching the numbers on half the face of each: a three suit contains the 3-blank, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, and 3-6. Since each such suit contains one of each of the other possible suits, only one complete suit is available per game.

verb (used with object)

1. to make appropriate, adapt, or accommodate, as one thing to another:

   to suit the punishment to the crime.

2. to be appropriate or becoming to:

   Blue suits you very well.

3. to be or prove satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable to; satisfy or please:

   The arrangements suit me.

4. to provide with a suit, as of clothing or armor; clothe; array.

verb (used without object)

1. to be appropriate or suitable; accord.
2. to be satisfactory, agreeable, or acceptable.

verb phrase

1. to dress in a uniform or special suit.

suit

/ suːt; sjuːt /

noun

1. any set of clothes of the same or similar material designed to be worn together, now usually (for men) a jacket with matching trousers or (for women) a jacket with matching or contrasting skirt or trousers
2. in combination any outfit worn for a specific purpose

   a spacesuit

3. any set of items, such as the full complement of sails of a vessel or parts of personal armour
4. any of the four sets of 13 cards in a pack of playing cards, being spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The cards in each suit are two to ten, jack, queen, and king in the usual order of ascending value, with ace counting as either the highest or lowest according to the game
5. a civil proceeding; lawsuit
6. the act or process of suing in a court of law
7. a petition or appeal made to a person of superior rank or status or the act of making such a petition
8. slang.
   a business executive or white-collar manager
9. a man's courting of a woman
10. follow suit
    1. to play a card of the same suit as the card played immediately before it
    2. to act in the same way as someone else
11. strong suit or strongest suit
    something that one excels in

verb

1. to make or be fit or appropriate for

   that dress suits you

2. to meet the requirements or standards (of)
3. to be agreeable or acceptable to (someone)
4. suit oneself
   to pursue one's own intentions without reference to others

Derived Forms

• ˈsuitˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• suitlike adjective
• counter·suit noun
• re·suit noun verb (used with object)
• under·suit noun
• under·suit verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of suit¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English siute, sute, suite (noun), from Anglo-French, Old French, akin to sivre (modern French, suivre ) “to follow”; sue, suite

Word History and Origins

Origin of suit¹

C13: from Old French sieute set of things, from sivre to follow; compare sue

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. follow suit,
   1. Cards. to play a card of the same suit as that led.
   2. to follow the example of another:

      The girl jumped over the fence, and her playmates followed suit.

2. suit oneself, to do what one wants to do or what is best for oneself, without regard for others (often used imperatively):

   I don’t agree with you, but okay, suit yourself.

More idioms and phrases containing suit

• birthday suit
• empty suit
• follow suit
• long suit
• strong point (suit)

Example Sentences

The question now is if more countries — like Oman and Sudan — will follow suit.

From Vox

If that effort fails, the agency can then bring suit against the company.

From ProPublica

Epic has filed a separate suit with similar claims against Google.

From Fortune

WNBA players have been leading on social justice issues for a while now, and once the NBA players decided not to play, it made sense that WNBA players would follow suit.

From FiveThirtyEight

Three state attorneys general have filed suits related to recent changes in the postal service.

From Fortune

San Francisco was the first city to pass one in 2006; since then, 14 other cities and three states have followed suit.

From The Daily Beast

Eventually, DeCrow and Seidenberg filed suit against the East Village mainstay.

From The Daily Beast

The pieces are near-identical, excepting the signature buttons on the Chanel suit and a few small tailoring details.

From The Daily Beast

We meet in his study, where Hitchcock sits waiting, dressed in his black suit.

From The Daily Beast

He had a tailor who ran up dozens of the same suit in different sizes to account for slight variations in his weight.

From The Daily Beast

Behold a dumpy, comfortable British paterfamilias in a light flannel suit and a faded sun hat.

From Project Gutenberg

He is what the bill wishes to make for us, a regular root doctor, and will suit the place exactly.

From Project Gutenberg

We had three long tables which Liszt arranged to suit himself, his own place being in the middle.

From Project Gutenberg

Not a dollar did he possess—not even did he have a suit of clothes any more, and wore every day his corduroys.

From Project Gutenberg

When Dan put his tobacco back unbitten, it was always an infallible sign that something had gone in a way that did not suit him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• costume
• dress
• ensemble
• tuxedo
• uniform
• wardrobe