Meanings
adjective
alternative buttoned-down
- Of a collar, able to be buttoned down to the shirt, as over a necktie.
- idiomaticSerious; staid; businesslike.
- idiomaticConservative; conventional; unimaginative.
nounbutton-down (plural button-downs)
plural button-downs · alternative buttoned-down
- A shirt with a button-down collar.
Wearing a stylish pink button-down with white pinstripes, Ozzie Guillen beamed about feeling like he had "come home" when he was presented Wednesday as the manager of the Miami Marlins.
2011, Dan McNeil, “Doesn't take long for Guillen to be irrelevant in Chicago”, in Chicago Tribune - colloquialA button-up shirt.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveunimaginatively conventional
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
APA
button-down. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/button-down
MLA
“button-down.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/button-down. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “button-down,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/button-down.
Source: button-down on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.