raiment

noun

rai·ment ˈrā-mənt

chiefly literary : clothing, garments

… dressed in the raiment of Victorian gentlemen.—Jerry Hopkins

The abbot of Landevenec, in his poor raiment, was not able to pass unnoticed among the people of Cornouaille, amply and richly dressed and coiffured with high headdresses.—Charles Guyot

The scientists believe that robbers quickly stripped the dead queen of her raiment, dismembering her mummy as though it was some sort of pharaonic piñata.—Ben Guarino

plural raiments, chiefly literary : an article of clothing : garment

… I tell thee, holy man, / Thy raiments and thy ebony cross affright me!—Edgar Allen Poe

She … shed her bright colours and raiments and flower garlands …—Jack London

For going to political rallies—or just heading out for a burger—T-shirts became the perfect two-in-one raiment.—J. D. Reed

—sometimes used figuratively

A rainforest is resplendent in a raiment of green—the ground thick with ferns and shrubs, and moss dripping from tree limbs.—Eric Noland

Did you know?

Get Fancy and Define Raiment

If you seek a fancy word to describe the clothes on your back, you have no shortage of colorful options. There's apparel and attire, certainly, as well as garments. Habiliments and vestments suggest clothes of a particular profession (as in "a clergyman's vestments"), while garb is effective for describing clothes of a particular style (as in "traditional Scottish garb"). If slang is more your game, try duds, rags, or threads. Raiment tends to appear mostly in classical contexts, though it pops up from time to time in contemporary English from authors looking to add a touch of formality. Raiment derives from Middle English, where it was short for arrayment, from the verb arrayen ("to array").

Examples of raiment in a Sentence

the prince exchanged his silken raiment for the pauper's humble homespun

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? —Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 29 Jan. 2024 What spirit are you, that walks this castle in such strange raiment? —Jay Martel, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Middle English rayment "clothing, adornment," aphetic variant of arayment, arrayment "preparation, equipment, furnishings, clothing," borrowed from Anglo-French arraiement "preparation, arrangement," from arraier, arreyer "to arrange, order, equip, attire, adorn" + -ment -ment — more at array entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of raiment was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century