noun
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a layer or film spread over a surface for protection or decoration
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a heavy fabric suitable for coats
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dialect a severe rebuke; ticking-off
Etymology
Origin of coating
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 myelin sheath is a protective coating that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.
From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026
They have been used in a range of consumer products since the 1940s, from clothing and cosmetics to food packaging and nonstick cookware, often as a slippery coating to repel water or stains.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
After the first uncrewed test flight, Artemis I, engineers found that chunks of the heat shield's coating had cracked and broken away during a two‑stage "skip" re‑entry manoeuvre.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
It’s a Wednesday afternoon in West Hollywood, one day after the city was blanketed in a light coating of rain.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026
When she waded into the swamp, the reeds twisted themselves into a boat, and she climbed aboard, floating across the deep red of the algae coating the water.
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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.
