suit

suit

I

suit¹ S2 W3 /suːt, sjuːt $ suːt/ noun [countable]
1.  CLOTHES a set of clothes made of the same material, usually including a jacket with trousers or a skirt:
    a grey lightweight suit
    a business suit
    a tweed suit
    She was wearing a black trouser suit. ⇨ morning suit
2. bathing/jogging etc suit a piece of clothing or a set of clothes used for swimming, running etc ⇨ boiler suit, shell suit, sweat suit, tracksuit, wet suit
3.  LAW a problem or complaint that a person or company brings to a court of law to be settled
   SYN  lawsuit:
    Johnson has filed suit against her.
    a civil suit
4.  OFFICE WORKER informal a man, especially a manager, who works in an office and who has to wear a suit when he is at work:
    I bought myself a mobile phone and joined the other suits on the train to the City.
5.  CARDS one of the four types of cards in a set of playing cards
6. sb’s strong suit something that you are good at:
    Sympathy is not Jack’s strong suit.
⇨ in your birthday suit at birthday(3), ⇨ follow suit at follow(14)

II

suit² S3 W3 verb [transitive]
1. to be acceptable, suitable, or convenient for a particular person or in a particular situation:
    Whatever your reason for borrowing, we have the loan that suits your needs.
    There’s a range of restaurants to suit all tastes.
    There are countryside walks to suit everyone.
    We have gifts to suit every pocket (=of all prices).
    Either steak or chicken would suit me fine.
    The climate there will suit you down to the ground (=suit you very well).
    suit something to something
    She had the ability to suit her performances to the audience.
2. [not in passive] clothes, colours etc that suit you make you look attractive:
    That coat really suits Paul.
    Red suits you.
    Jill’s new hairstyle doesn’t really suit her.
3. best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for something to have the right qualities to do something:
    The activity holidays on offer are really best suited to groups.
    land well suited for agriculture
    the candidate most ideally suited to doing the job
4. suit yourself spoken used to tell someone they can do whatever they want to, even though it annoys you or you think they are not doing the right thing:
    ‘Mind if I sit here?’ he said gently. ‘Suit yourself.’
5. suit sb’s book British English informal to fit well into someone’s plans
     

COLLOCATIONS

■ nouns
   ▪ suit somebody's needs/requirements The building has been adapted to suit the needs of older people.
   ▪ suit somebody's taste Users can customize the home page to suit their personal tastes.
   ▪ suit somebody's purpose It suited her purpose to let him believe the lie.
   ▪ suit somebody's mood You can adjust the colour of the lighting to suit your mood.
   ▪ suit somebody's style Choose a racket that suits your style of play.
   ▪ suit the circumstances When writing emails, most people vary the style to suit the circumstances.
   ▪ suit the occasion I thought a simple black dress would suit the occasion.
   ▪ suit somebody's pocket (=cost as much as they feel they can pay) The choice is wide, with something to suit everyone's pocket.
■ adverbs
   ▪ suit somebody well Our new house suits us very well.
   ▪ suit somebody perfectly The arrangement suited me perfectly.
   ▪ suit somebody fine informal: Either Monday or Tuesday would suit me fine for our meeting.
   ▪ suit somebody down to the ground informal (=suit someone very well) Country life suits you down to the ground.