WordWeb Online

1. Put on special clothes to appear particularly appealing and attractive
   "She never dresses up, even when she goes to the opera";
   - overdress, fig out [informal], fig up [informal], deck up, gussy up [N. Amer, informal], fancy up [informal], trick up, deck out, trick out, prink, attire, get up, rig out, tog up [informal], tog out [informal], doll up [informal]
    
2. Make something appear superficially attractive
   "Don't try to dress up the unpleasant truth"; "The researcher tried to dress up the uninteresting data";
   - window-dress
    
3. Put a caparison on
   "dress up the horses for the festive occasion";
   - caparison, bard, barde
    
4. Dress in a costume
   "We dressed up for Halloween as pumpkins";
   - costume
    
5. Wear clothes in a certain manner or of a certain style
   "he dressed up in a suit and tie";
   - dress

Derived forms: dressed up, dresses up, dressing up

See also: dress

Type of: adorn, apparel, beautify, clothe, decorate, dress, embellish, enclothe, fancify, fit out, garb, garment, get dressed, grace, habilitate [archaic], ornament, prettify, raiment [archaic], tog [informal]

Antonym: underdress