wardrobe malfunction

English

Etymology

An Americanism, coined by singer Justin Timberlake in 2004 to describe the incident during Super Bowl XXXVIII in which singer Janet Jackson's right breast was bared.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

wardrobe malfunction (plural wardrobe malfunctions)

1. (euphemistic) An accidental counterpart of indecent exposure caused by a fault in someone's clothing (especially that of a performer) or by an error made while changing clothes.

   Hyponym: nip slip

   • 2007 September 4, Kathleen McElroy, “But Wait! Djokovic Is Still Playing”, in New York Times Straight Sets‎^[1], retrieved 2021-04-17:

     Monaco, a 23-year-old Argentinian seeded No. 23, survived the most unlikely wardrobe malfunction to save a match point and win a third-set tiebreaker, 8-6.

Usage notes

• The regions of the body within the scope of such a "malfunction" usually refers to erogenous regions of the body. Sometimes more specific terms are used, such as nip slip.

Derived terms

• wardrobe malfunctioner

 

Translations

euphemism: an accidental instance of indecent exposure

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 衣櫥故障／衣橱故障 (yīchúgùzhàng), 不小心走光 (bù xiǎoxīn zǒuguāng)

• Finnish: vaatemoka
• German: ^{(please verify)} Garderobenstörung f (literal)
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} disfunção de guarda-roupa f
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} неисправность одежды (neispravnostʹ odeždy)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} malfuncionamiento del guardarropa m, ^{(please verify)} error de induntemaria m
• Turkish: frikik (tr)

See also

• Nipplegate