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Suit vs Wear - What's the difference?

suit | wear |

In intransitive terms the difference between suit and wear

is that suit is to agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; — usually followed by to, archaically also followed by with while wear is to last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.

As nouns the difference between suit and wear

is that suit is a set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman while wear is (in combination) clothing.

As verbs the difference between suit and wear

is that suit is to make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit while wear is to guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.

As a proper noun Wear is

a river in the county of Tyne and Wear in north east England. The city of Sunderland is found upon its banks.

suit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suit ed men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • (by extension) A single garment that covers the whole body: space suit, boiler suit, protective suit.
  • (pejorative, slang) A person who wears matching jacket and trousers, especially a boss or a supervisor.
  • A full set of armour.
  • (legal) The attempt to gain an end by legal process; a process instituted in a court of law for the recovery of a right or claim; a lawsuit.
  • (obsolete) The act of following or pursuing; pursuit, chase.
  • Pursuit of a love-interest; wooing, courtship.
  • Rebate your loves, each rival suit suspend, Till this funereal web my labors end. —(Alexander Pope).
  • The full set of sails required for a ship.
  • (card games) Each of the sets of a pack of cards distinguished by color and/or specific emblems, such as the spades, hearts, diamonds and French playing cards.
  • To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort Her mingled suits and sequences. — (William Cowper).
  • (obsolete) Regular order; succession.
  • Every five and thirty years the same kind and suit of weather comes again. — (Francis Bacon).
  • (obsolete) The act of suing; the pursuit of a particular object or goal.
  • Thenceforth the suit of earthly conquest shone. — (Edmund Spenser).
  • (archaic) A company of attendants or followers; a retinue.
  • (archaic) A group of similar or related objects or items considered as a whole; a suite (of rooms etc.)
  • Derived terms

    * birthday suit * bring suit * diving suit * flight suit * follow suit * out of suits * pressure suit * shell suit * suit and service * suit broker * suit court * suit covenant * suit custom * suit service * suitcase * swimsuit * tracksuit * zoot suit

    See also

    *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make proper or suitable; to adapt or fit.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
  • To be suitable or apt for one's image.
  • :
  • :
  • To be appropriate or apt for.
  • :
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • :Ill suits his cloth the praise of railing well.
  • *(Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)
  • *:Raise her notes to that sublime degree / Which suits song of piety and thee.
  • *
  • *:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  • (lb) To dress; to clothe.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:So went he suited to his watery tomb.
  • To please; to make content; as, he is well suited with his place; to fit one's taste.
  • :
  • (lb) To agree; to accord; to be fitted; to correspond; — usually followed by to'', archaically also followed by ''with .
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:The place itself was suiting to his care.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • *:Give me not an office / That suits with me so ill.
  • Synonyms

    * to agree: agree, match, answer

    Derived terms

    * suited and booted * suit up * suit yourself

    wear

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) weren, werien, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (Scotland)

    Verb

  • To guard; watch; keep watch, especially from entry or invasion.
  • To defend; protect.
  • To ward off; prevent from approaching or entering; drive off; repel.
  • to wear the wolf from the sheep
  • To conduct or guide with care or caution, as into a fold or place of safety.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) weren, werien, from (etyl) , (etyl) gwisgo, (etyl) waš- .

    Verb

  • To carry or have equipped on or about one's body, as an item of clothing, equipment, decoration, etc.
  • :
  • *
  • *:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=5 citation , passage=‘It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.’}}
  • To have or carry on one's person habitually, consistently; or, to maintain in a particular fashion or manner.
  • :
  • *, chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • To bear or display in one's aspect or appearance.
  • :
  • To overcome one's reluctance and endure a (previously specified) situation.
  • :
  • To eat away at, erode, diminish, or consume gradually; to cause a gradual deterioration in; to produce (some change) through attrition, exposure, or constant use.
  • :
  • (lb) To undergo gradual deterioration; become impaired; be reduced or consumed gradually due to any continued process, activity, or use.
  • :
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:His stock of money began to wear very low.
  • * (1804-1881)
  • *:The familywore out in the earlier part of the century.
  • To exhaust, fatigue, expend, or weary.  His neverending criticism has finally worn' my patience.  Toil and care soon '''wear''' the spirit.  Our physical advantage allowed us to ' wear the other team out
  • (lb) To last or remain durable under hard use or over time; to retain usefulness, value, or desirable qualities under any continued strain or long period of time; sometimes said of a person, regarding the quality of being easy or difficult to tolerate.
  • :
  • (in the phrase "wearing on (someone) ") To cause annoyance, irritation, fatigue, or weariness near the point of an exhaustion of patience.
  • :
  • To pass slowly, gradually or tediously.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Away, I say; time wears .
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Thus wore out night.
  • (lb) To bring (a sailing vessel) onto the other tack by bringing the wind around the stern (as opposed to tacking when the wind is brought around the bow); to come round on another tack by turning away from the wind. Also written "ware". Past: weared, or wore/worn.
  • Derived terms
    * outworn * wear away * wear down * wear off * wear out, worn out, worn-out * wear thin * wear something on one's sleeve, wear one's heart on one's sleeve * wear rose-colored glasses * wearable * wearer * worse for wear
    See also
    * (l) *

    Noun

    (-)
  • (uncountable) (in combination ) clothing
  • footwear'''; outdoor '''wear'''; maternity '''wear
  • (uncountable) damage to the appearance and/or strength of an item caused by use over time
  • * 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X
  • Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
  • (uncountable) fashion
  • * Shakespeare
  • Motley's the only wear .