- present participle of wad.
wadding
Americannoun
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any fibrous or soft material for stuffing, padding, packing, etc., especially carded cotton in specially prepared sheets.
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material used as wads for guns, cartridges, etc.
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Surgery. any large dressing made of cotton or a similar absorbent material that is used to stanch the flow of blood or dress a wound.
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a wad or lump.
noun
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any fibrous or soft substance used as padding, stuffing, etc, esp sheets of carded cotton prepared for the purpose
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a piece of this
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material for wads used in cartridges or guns
Etymology
Origin of wadding
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.
The next day I woke up and I thought” — he mimes wadding up a piece of paper and tossing it away — ‘That’s never going to happen.’
From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025
It is a pastime that requires next-level commitment, though, as Ioan often spends days deep underground at a time, digging passages, or wadding through partially submerged caves.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2023
Soldiers sometimes carried cartridges, which were powder and ball pre-wrapped in wadding, ready to be rammed down the barrel.
From Washington Post • Jul. 16, 2020
He meant, of course, robin’s egg blue, the shade of all Tiffany boxes, bags and wadding.
From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2019
He did not want this woman to see him for the first time with the wadding sticking out of his clothes.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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.
