powder puff
noun
a soft, feathery ball or pad, as of cotton or down, for applying powder to the skin.
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powder puff
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powder-puff
powder-puffadjectivelimited to participation by women or girls.
powder puff
1 Americannoun
powder-puff
2
American
[pau-der-puhf]
/ ˈpaʊ dərˌpʌf /
adjective
Informal.
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limited to participation by women or girls.
She plays on the powder-puff touch football team.
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inconsequential; trifling; lightweight.
a powder-puff company with little financing and a weak sales effort.
powder puff
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of powder puff1
First recorded in 1695–1705
Origin of powder-puff2
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
See Examples For:
Mr. Lee was mocked by activists earlier this week after a Reddit user posted a 1977 high school yearbook photo of him and other students dressed in opposite-sex clothing for a powder puff football game.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 3, 2023
The Sun Devils haven't been world-beaters so far, but they've played two powder puff opponents.
From Fox News ● Sep. 17, 2021
She discreetly blotted her wounds with the powder puff.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2017
She imagines swooning in his arms like some gauzy thirties film starlet, propped up on a blue powder puff and surrounded by thornless roses as he tells her he loves her.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 9, 2015
Her throne was an old cast-off powder puff.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
More timidity to observe, more vulnerability in defence, more powder-puff stuff up front, more wide men running in ever decreasing circles.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
Her career almost ended during a charity powder-puff football game during her junior year at Eastern High School in Vorhees, N.J.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2016
Challenges from the visitors were powder-puff and Stoke simply ran all over them.
From The Guardian ● May 24, 2015
“They think it’s a powder-puff game that you sometimes see during homecoming week,” he said.
From New York Times ● May 15, 2010
"Don't try," she counselled him, putting away her powder-puff and not looking at him.
From What Not A Prophetic Comedy by Dame Rose Macaulay
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
