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  • brad
    brad
    noun
    a slender wire nail having either a small, deep head or a projection to one side of the head end.
  • Brad
    Brad
    noun
    a male given name.
Synonyms

brad

1 American  
[brad] / bræd /

noun

  • brads
    plural
  1. a slender wire nail having either a small, deep head or a projection to one side of the head end.


verb (used with object)

bradded, bradding
  1. to fasten with brads.

Brad 2 American  
[brad] / bræd /

noun

  1. a male given name.


brad British  
/ bræd /

noun

  1. a small tapered nail having a small head that is either symmetrical or formed on one side only

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of brad

1425–75; late Middle English brad, dialectal variant of Middle English brod ( d ) sprout, shoot, nail < Old Norse braddr, cognate with Old English brord spike ( see braird)


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:

Finishing touches include cardboard knobs and buttons, and a temperature meter secured with a brad.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 14, 2022

“Whoever picked that cover for brad pitt’s GQ issue is getting fireddddd,” wrote @nicholasdante_.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

Louis Vuitton logo brad is seen outside a Louis Vuitton store in Paris, France, January 27, 2020.

From Reuters ● Sep. 22, 2021

Tweeted one: “walter is brad pitt for us smart girls.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2017

The placard had been there on that day too. brad bolitar, it read, in plain black ink on a white index card in a weather-protected plastic case.

From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben

Brad Cooper, the Centcom chief, visited the White House last week to brief Trump on the conflict, The Wall Street Journal reported.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

"Georgians continue to head to the polls in record numbers because they trust the system," top elections official Brad Raffensperger said Thursday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

Historically, workers who job-hopped have made more money, especially earlier in their careers, said Brad Hershbein, a senior economist at the W.E.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

"It's that hard call knowing that you've got to have a tough chat with someone like Brad O'Neill, who's probably not doing anything wrong," McDermott said.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

And there was Brad, the quarterback of the high school football team.

From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

Paper bag, plush, and recently she started making flat ones out of cardboard that have joints made out of metal brads giving them some mobility.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 10, 2016

An insurance adjuster allowed the claim, but the company discovered that smart Gerald Bodine had mulcted insurance firms ten times for gulping nails, brads, tacks, pins, et al.

From Time Magazine Archive

I had been promoted from gluing on the bristles to fastening the wooden halves of a brush together with brads.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

Drive the brads through from the under side of the base an eighth of an inch within the guiding line.

From Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools by Virginia McGaw

Small brads, bent over, will do just as well.

From Electricity for the 4-H Scientist Idaho Agricultural Extension Service Bulletin 396, June, 1962 by Eric B. Wilson

I switched on the light and looked into a cracked piece of mirror bradded with bent nails to the wall.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

You have bradded me on, and told me that a man of the woods always gets what he wants if he goes after it right.

From King Spruce, A Novel by Holman Day

They come in thick wood doors with iron nails bradded through, fastened on big hinges, fastened it with chains and iron bars.

From Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4 by Work Projects Administration

It was three planks thick, crossed one another and bradded together wid iron nails.

From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Arkansas Narratives, Part 2 by Work Projects Administration

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