to wear clothes that are more casual and relaxed than usual, especially instead of formal or work clothes.
On Fridays, we can dress down and wear jeans to the office.
A: Are you wearing a suit to the party? B: No, it's casual, so I'm going to dress down.
At my university, we usually dress down for lectures, but we dress up for presentations.
Common mistake
✗We dress down ourselves on Fridays.
✓We dress down on Fridays.
'Dress down' is intransitive — no reflexive object.
Tell it apart
We dress down on Fridays.
wear casual clothes
We dress up for the gala.
wear smart/formal clothes
Use 'dress down' when you want to say you are wearing less formal clothes, not when you are taking off clothes.'Dress up' means to wear more formal or special clothes.
to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong; to scold or reprimand.
The manager dressed him down for being late again.
A: You look upset. What happened? B: My coach dressed me down in front of the whole team.
If an employee makes a serious mistake, their boss might dress them down to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Common mistake
✗The coach dressed down to the players.
✓The coach dressed down the players. / dressed the players down.
'Dress down' takes the person directly — no 'to'.
Tell it apart
The boss dressed him down for being late.
told him off sharply
On Fridays we dress down.
wear casual clothes
This sense is more common in informal spoken English and often used when someone in authority is angry.Not related to clothes in this sense; it's about telling someone off.