anorak
Americannoun
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a hooded pullover jacket originally made of fur and worn in the Arctic, now made of any weather-resistant fabric.
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a jacket patterned after this, made of any weather-resistant material and worn widely.
noun
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a warm waterproof hip-length jacket usually with a hood, originally worn in polar regions, but now worn for any outdoor activity
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informal a socially inept person with a hobby considered by most people to be boring
Etymology
Origin of anorak
First recorded in 1920–25; from Inuit (Greenlandic) annoraaq
Explanation
An anorak is a waterproof jacket with a hood. Another word for an anorak is a parka. Many anoraks are lined with fur or some other warm, wooly material. Arctic explorers and climbers wear anoraks, as well as Inuits and other native people in very cold regions. Inuits, in fact, invented the anorak for hunting and fishing, from seal and caribou skin coated with fish oil. The Kalaallisut language, from Greenland, used the word anoraq, which became anorak in the 1930s.
Vocabulary lists containing anorak
The Graveyard Book
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Red, White & Royal Blue
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Black Swan Green
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
During the sentencing hearing Rose sat in the dock with an anorak hood over her head and wearing headphones - her defence barrister said this was for medical reasons.
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2025
Sara Cummings, clad in an arctic-white anorak, baggy forest-green cargo pants and thick-soled white hiking boots, is about to step in front of the camera at the Reese Cooper fashion show and lookbook shoot.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2021
Morrison is an internet specialist rather than a political anorak, which partly explains why, to a political journalist such as myself, his take on current affairs seems so unorthodox.
From The Guardian • Oct. 22, 2019
The actor Richard Madden, all in black, fastened a punctilious safety pin on his lapel, while the singer Frank Ocean wore a nylon Prada anorak that transformed him into a backpack.
From The New Yorker • May 7, 2019
It wouldn't go inside, he had to get out the ball of string and his penknife, to cut it with, and then tie the anorak on.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
