variants
or less commonly shirtsleeves
or shirtsleeved
1
a
: being without a coat
a shirtsleeve spectator
b
: calling for the removal of coats for the sake of comfort or efficiency
shirtsleeve weather
2
: marked by informality and directness
shirtsleeve diplomacy
Examples of shirtsleeve in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Men's Health, 9 Mar. 2023
The food writer in me tugged at my shirtsleeve.
—Betsy Andrews, Travel + Leisure, 1 Mar. 2021
Denise Chow, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2021
New Year’s brought shirtsleeve weather to the U.S. East and record high temperatures to Europe as the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday was more than 2.6 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) hotter than the late 20th century average.
—Time, 5 Jan. 2023
See all Example Sentences for shirtsleeve 
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.
Noun
After all, who doesn’t want to stretch their shirtsleeves?
—Men's Health, 9 Mar. 2023
The food writer in me tugged at my shirtsleeve.
—Betsy Andrews, Travel + Leisure, 1 Mar. 2021
Adjective
The tent protects Webb from dust and dirt when engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., transport the telescope out of the relatively dust-free cleanroom and into the shirtsleeve environment of the vibration and acoustics testing areas.
—Denise Chow, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2021
New Year’s brought shirtsleeve weather to the U.S. East and record high temperatures to Europe as the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday was more than 2.6 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) hotter than the late 20th century average.
—Time, 5 Jan. 2023
See all Example Sentences for shirtsleeve
Dictionary Entries Near shirtsleeve
Cite this Entry
“Shirtsleeve.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shirtsleeve. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share