tunic

[ too-nik, tyoo- ]
See synonyms for tunic on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Chiefly British. a coat worn as part of a military or other uniform.

  2. a gownlike outer garment, with or without sleeves and sometimes belted, worn by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

  1. a woman's upper garment, either loose or close-fitting and extending over the skirt to the hips or below.

  2. a garment with a short skirt, worn by women for sports.

  3. Ecclesiastical. a tunicle.

  4. Anatomy, Zoology. any covering or investing membrane or part, as of an organ.

  5. Botany. an integument, as that covering a seed.

Origin of tunic

1
before 900; (<French tunique) <Latin tunica; perhaps also continuing Old English tunece, tunica<Latin

Other words from tunic

  • sub·tu·nic, noun
  • su·per·tu·nic, noun
  • un·der·tu·nic, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tunic in a sentence

  • Long-trained gowns were also worn, with stomachers, trimmed with fur and velvet, and these displaced the super-tunic.

  • The general garments of the men were the tunic, the super-tunic, and the mantle.

  • A development of the super-tunic was the surcoat, which was worn by either sex during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

    Chats on Costume | G. Woolliscroft Rhead

British Dictionary definitions for tunic

tunic

/ (ˈtjuːnɪk) /


noun
  1. any of various hip-length or knee-length garments, such as the loose sleeveless garb worn in ancient Greece or Rome, the jacket of some soldiers, or a woman's hip-length garment, worn with a skirt or trousers

  2. anatomy botany zoology a covering, lining, or enveloping membrane of an organ or part: See also tunica

  1. mainly RC Church another word for tunicle

Origin of tunic

1
Old English tunice (unattested except in the accusative case), from Latin tunica

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012