ENGLISH
REFERENCE

clad

adj.
C1 Advanced US //ˈkɫæd// UK //klˈæd// clad Archaic Literary

adj. wearing a particular type of clothing or covered in a specific material. You use this when you want to describe how someone looks or how a building is finished.

adj. clothed or covered in a specified material. Often used in a passive sense or as a participial adjective following a linking verb.


SIMPLE

The mountain peaks are clad in white snow.

CONTEXTUAL

The modern office building is clad in glass and steel to reflect the surrounding city skyline.

COMPLEX

The knight appeared at the gate, fully clad in polished silver armor that glinted under the midday sun, signaling his readiness for the tournament.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

From Middle English clad, cladde, cled(e), cledde, past tense and past participle forms of clethen (“(also figurative) to put clothing on, clothe, dress; to provide clothing to; to arm, equip; to cover, envelop; to conceal; to adorn”), from Old English clǣþan (past tense clǣþde, clædde), from Proto-West Germanic klaiþijan, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gleh₁y-, gley- (“to adhere, cling, stick to”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English clad(d), cladde, clade, past tense and past participle forms of clathen, clothen (“to put clothing on, clothe, dress”), from *clāþian (“to clothe”) (past participle ġeclāded, ġeclaþed, ġeclaþod), from clāþ, clǣþ (“cloth; (plural) clothes”); see further at etymology 1.

Etymology 3

Apparently derived from clad (adjective); see etymology 2. Uses of clad as the simple past and past participle form of clad are indistinguishable from uses of the word as the simple past and past participle form of clothe.

Usage

Typically follows a linking verb or acts as a post-positive modifier; often paired with the preposition 'in'.

© 2026 English Reference