business casual

noun

chiefly US

: a style of dressing for white-collar employees that is less formal than traditional business attire

I sat at my desk the other afternoon, dressed in business casual, and wistfully fingered my most recent pay stub. … And I thought as I've thought before: perhaps it's no coincidence that business casual is sweeping the country just as white-collar job security evaporates.

—Jay Weiser, New Republic, 26 Feb. 1996

Word History

First Known Use

1968, in the meaning defined above

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