Induments

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Articles of clothing or garments worn by a person for covering or protection ; any fabric or attire serving as clothing or dress ; items of costume or apparel used to cover the body for modesty or style
2. Pieces of apparel or coverings that people wear to shield or adorn the body ; cloth materials or outfits constituting what one wears ; garments or dresses that serve as external coverings or attire for individuals
3. Clothing items or covers worn on the body for protection, warmth, or decoration ; any textile or outfit used as clothing ; wearable articles that serve to clothe or cover a person

Etymology: "Induments" is the plural of "indument," a word that English borrowed from Latin "indumentum," meaning "a covering." The Latin noun grows from "induere," to put on or clothe, the same root that gave English "indue," an older verb meaning to invest someone with a quality or to clothe them. So the word's core idea is simply the act of putting something on the body, and the garments themselves are the result of that act. Because "indument" came into English as a learned borrowing rather than through everyday speech, it has stayed a formal, somewhat literary term. It sits alongside "induement," a near relative that the same Latin ancestry produced, though "indument" has the more concrete sense of an actual covering rather than the act of dressing someone.

Synonyms: clothes, garments, apparel, attire

Antonyms: nudity, bare