plural jeans
1
: a durable twilled cotton cloth used especially for sportswear and work clothes
2
usually jeans
: pants usually made of denim or jean
… strolling with royal puppy Lupo through Kensington Gardens near the couple's two-bedroom cottage in a pair of jeans and rain boots.—
Alicia Dennis et al.
Millions of people today buy designer jeans for double the price of equally durable generic jeans …—Jared Diamond
see also blue jeans, mom jeans
Examples of jean in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Tanming Linen Pants After a few days of travel and long hours spent sitting, squeezing into a pair of jeans can feel like an Olympic event.
—Kristine Hansen, Travel + Leisure, 12 Jan. 2026
Back in October, and then again three days ago, Oprah posted to Instagram reels in an all light-brown ensemble consisting of a quarter-zip sweater, straight-leg jeans, and court-style sneakers.
—Izzy Baskette, PEOPLE, 12 Jan. 2026
From Kendrick Lamar’s bootcut jeans to Alexander Skarsgård’s kinky Pillion press tour looks, last year laid the groundwork for experimentation in a market that’s famously slower and less trend driven than women’s fashion.
—Lucy Maguire, Vogue, 12 Jan. 2026
But far from looking old-fashioned, these pieces are actually feel modern and cool when paired with trendy jeans.
—René Chávez Esparza, Glamour, 11 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Jean.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jean. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Kids Definition
jean
noun1
: a heavy cotton cloth used especially for sportswear and work clothes
2
plural
: pants made of jean, denim, or corduroy
Etymology
a shortened form of earlier jean fustian, literally "a fustian (heavy cotton cloth) from Genoa," from Middle English Gene "Genoa, Italy"
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