*Jacket VS Coat

Question

Hi all,

I really get confused between the followings:-

- Sweater vs Pullover
- Coat vs jacket
- overall vs coverall
- Tank-top VS sleevless

I think the differences are dependent on the dialect ( BrE or AmE), aren't they ?

Thanks in advance

Nona the brit · Accepted Answer

I'm not sure that it is as simple as that.

From a BrE perspective

Sweater - we know what it means but this is the AmE term
Pullover - the kind of word your granny uses
Jumper - aha - this is the BrE word

coat - a long (past around hip level) top garment
jacket - a short (above around hip level) top garment and also the top half of a suit.

Overall - a large protective apron, worn by cleaners and so on
Coverall - not used

Tank -top - a jumper without sleeves
Sleeveless - really only applied as an adjective rather than a noun. Generally for women's more formal clothes, I wouldn't reallydescribe a T-shirt as sleeveless, but I might say I was wearing a sleevless top when I was dressed up to go out.

Kimolaj · Answer

Hi!! I'm from Poland..In my country much more poeple prefer warmer clothes: wooly sweater, jacket etc., but i hate jacket etc. i love t-shirt, shorts

please answear

Anonymous · Answer

this might be four years too late but oh well

sweater is non soft on the outside
pullover is knitted and soft on bboth sides but jumper is used for both more often

coat is more substantial than a jacket which only go to the waist they are more autumn types of clothing with coats being for the winter

nobody uses coverall

tanktop has thick straps and as roundneck sleeveless can be anything without sleeves

Anonymous · Answer

I agree with some of what the previous contributor wrote but have some reservations:

Tank-tops need not have a round-neck (we had V-neck, knitted wool ones back in the late 60's, when they were fashionable

). Vest is another term used slightly differently in the US and UK, and Waistcoat (or "w'stc't").

Suit jackets usually go below the waist. Above the waist would be a subset of jackets, for example "bomber jackets" (although some real bomber crew jackets are fairly long).

Re. sweater not being soft on the outside. I've never heard that before. Sounds like a modern use of a much older word, presumably the author is thinking of American-style sweat shirts, which are now common in Britain, being now used for school and scout uniforms as well as casual wear instead of the more traditional pullover/jumper/cardigan.

While I too think of coats being longer, more substantial (warmer/drier) and more wintery than a jacket, I would also consider jackets to be a type (or subset) of coats.

Overall rather than coverall, US & UK.

Anonymous · Answer

Sweater has no opening.
Cardigan has a front opening.
Gilet/Vest has no sleeves.
Jacket is a short garment which extends to the hip or waist. Can be used as a indoor garment (if suit-type jacket) or outdoor (if made of leather).
Coat is a "long jacket" always outerwear.

Anna

Anonymous · Answer

This is all from my personal understanding of American English as a native speaker born and raised in the Greater Seattle Area of Washington state.

The term sweater generally denotes a knitted garment; there are many types of sweaters. A cardigan is a sweater that opens up. There are also sweater vests, a knitted garment worn over another shirt, such as a polo shirt or blouse, and has a v-neck. The term sweater can also be used to refer to a knitted shirt such as a "Christmas sweater". I've never really used the term pullover, but as other posters have suggested, I think it might refer to sweatshirts. Sweatshirts are usually hooded or crew-neck, and can have a front pouch (hooded almost always have a pouch whereas crew-neck usually don't).

Coat and jacket are really hard to pull apart. Coats are generally either fancier or warmer, whereas jackets tend to be lighter weight and more casual; unless of course you are talking about sports coats and suit jackets, but that's a totally different connotation than the way the terms are used for outerwear. Also, coats can have buttons or zippers, but jackets next to never have buttons and almost exclusively have zippers. For example, I would never call my wool pea coat a jacket and I usually don't call my North Face zip-up fleece a coat, I call it a jacket. However, when you're telling someone to go grab their ____ to go outside in the cold, coat and jacket are used pretty much interchangeably.

Overalls generally refer to bib-overalls, and can be worn in a variety of circumstances, including just as fashion clothing. Coveralls are generally something you wear over regular clothing for protection, but can also refer to any garment that covers the whole body and buttons, zips, or snaps down the center of the body.

Tank-top versus sleeveless is a fairly easy distinction. Sleeveless stops right at the end of the shoulder, like you've taken a shirt and simply removed its sleeves at the seam. Tank-tops are pretty much everything else, and there's a variety of types of tank-tops - spaghetti strap tank tops, racer-back tank-tops, etc.

Hope this helps! Maybe my descriptions can help you break-down and understand even more elusive terms such as sweater-jacket.

Anonymous · Answer

If a sweater has no opening, how do you wear it? I guess it's for wrapping over your shoulders.

*Jacket VS Coat

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