woolly

or wool·y

[ wool-ee ]

adjective

, wool·li·er, wool·li·est.

1. consisting of wool:

   a woolly fleece.

2. resembling wool in texture or appearance:

   woolly hair.

3. clothed or covered with wool or something resembling it:

   a woolly caterpillar.

4. Botany. covered with a pubescence of long, soft hairs resembling wool.
5. like the rough, vigorous atmosphere of the early West in America:

   wild and woolly.

6. fuzzy; unclear; disorganized:

   woolly thinking.

noun

, plural wool·lies.

1. Western U.S. a wool-bearing animal; sheep.
2. Usually woollies. a knitted undergarment of wool or other fiber.
3. any woolen garment, as a sweater.
4. Dialect. a dust ball.

woolly

/ ˈwʊlɪ /

adjective

1. consisting of, resembling, or having the nature of wool
2. covered or clothed in wool or something resembling it
3. lacking clarity or substance

   woolly thinking

4. botany covered with long soft whitish hairs

   woolly stems

5. recalling the rough and lawless period of the early West of America (esp in the phrase wild and woolly )

noun

1. often plural a garment, such as a sweater, made of wool or something similar
2. usually plural an informal word for sheep

Derived Forms

• ˈwoollily, adverb
• ˈwoolliness, noun

Other Words From

• woolli·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of woolly¹

First recorded in 1580–90; wool + -y ¹

Example Sentences

Cultivated meat may be "safe-ly" marketed as nuggets and burgers, but, in principle, the options are endless: Curious consumers could sample lab-grown whale or turtle meat guilt-free, or even find out what woolly mammoth tasted like.

From Salon

Denis Carbonaro has been making sculptures in the front and back garden of his Fife semi for nine-and-a-half years, including a woolly mammoth, a Spanish galleon up a tree, a spider and a shrine during Covid.

From BBC

There are a few other fruit trees on the property, but mostly it’s a riot of native plants with enough variety that even in the summer, when many California native plants go dormant, the garden is full of fragrance and color — bright purple wands of woolly blue curls that smell as sweet as bubble gum; sticky yellow and red monkeyflowers, tall mallows with large flowers in orange and lavender, pinkish white bouquets on the narrow milkweed and sunflowers and fuchsias nearly ready to bloom.

From Los Angeles Times

The proposed definition of grey belt is far too woolly at the moment – and Nicholas is right, it could make lots of lawyers and landowners rich.

From BBC

Steppe mammoths were an ancestor of the woolly mammoth, and this site is believed to date back to around 220,000 years ago.

From BBC

Related Words

• woolen