gauze
Americannoun
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any thin and often transparent fabric made from any fiber in a plain or open weave.
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a surgical dressing of loosely woven cotton.
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any material made of an open, meshlike weave, as of wire.
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a thin haze.
noun
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a transparent cloth of loose plain or leno weave
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( as modifier )
a gauze veil
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a surgical dressing of muslin or similar material
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any thin openwork material, such as wire
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a fine mist or haze
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gauze
First recorded in 1555–65; from French gaze; ultimate origin unknown
Explanation
Gauze is a loosely woven, almost translucent fabric that's used to bandage wounds. If you get a bad burn, a doctor might clean it and cover it with gauze. In medicine, gauze has several uses. Sterile gauze is usually kept in a sealed package, to ensure that it's perfectly clean. It can be used to clean cuts, scrapes, and burns, and also acts as a large bandage. There is also a non-medical fabric called gauze that's used in light, warm-weather clothing. The word's origin is mysterious — one guess traces it to the Arabic gazz, or "raw silk."
Vocabulary lists containing gauze
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Out Of Whole Cloth: Material Words
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Amal Unbound
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her upper body rotates over the chair back and she gently pulls up one of her transparent gauze sleeves as if preparing for a pleasant conversation with us, her audience.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 12, 2025
Staff at Nasser and other hospitals in Gaza told the BBC the blockade meant they were running short on basic supplies like painkillers and gauze, and had to shut down some services.
From BBC • May 16, 2025
She would bring home surgical tubing, tubs, gauze and other stuff for him and his siblings to play with.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2025
But it’s her dreamy delivery of Alfred Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” that stops time, wraps it in gauze and conveys the full tragedy of a heroine yearning to be known and, yet, hidden away.
From Salon • Oct. 1, 2024
She was not intending to remove the gauze, but as she loosened it, the heavy sterile towel beneath it slid away, taking a part of the bloodied dressing with it.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
