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
Blanks can still be dangerous because they involve gunpowder and paper wadding or wax, which provide a flame and spark, which look good on camera.
From New York Times • Oct. 22, 2021
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
I did the same thing, wadding the dirty uniform up into a ball.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
