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Synonyms

stuffing

American  
[stuhf-ing] / ˈstʌf ɪŋ /

noun

  1. the act of a person or thing that stuffs.

  2. a material or substance used to stuff something.

  3. Cooking. seasoned breadcrumbs or other filling used to stuff a chicken, turkey, etc., before cooking.

  4. Informal. internal parts; insides.

    to beat the stuffing out of an opponent.
stuffing British  
/ ˈstʌfɪŋ /

noun

  1. the material with which something is stuffed

  2. a mixture of chopped and seasoned ingredients with which poultry, meat, etc, is stuffed before cooking

  3. to upset or dishearten someone completely

"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

Etymology

Origin of stuffing

First recorded in 1520–30; stuff + -ing 1

Explanation

Stuffing is the soft material inside pillows, mattresses, or sofa cushions. Without stuffing, your comfy chair wouldn't be very comfy. Stuffing is meant either to make things more comfortable, or more delicious. The edible kind of stuffing is a savory filling that's stuffed inside something being cooked, like a turkey or a potato. Stuffing stems from the verb stuff, which meant "fill the belly with food and drink" in the early 1400s, and came to mean "fill the interior of a pastry or the cavity of a fowl or beast" later in the century.

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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 batch of Tesco Finest Apple & Cranberry Stuffing Mix may be "unfit for human consumption", the retailer warned via the Food Standards Agency.

From BBC • Dec. 14, 2023

Takeout: The Much Ado About Stuffing pickup feast includes a 14-pound natural turkey ready to roast in your oven, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brown sugared yams, roasted Brussels sprouts and roasted delicata squash.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2023

Stuffing is a dish where old bread goes to shine — a cheap and easy crowd-pleaser.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 15, 2023

Stuffing, corn, turkey and gravy can be incorporated into an autumnal shepherd's pie.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2022

Stuffing their mittens and wool caps into their pockets, they settled in conscious of their extraordinary good fortune in having escaped temporarily from the snowstorm.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

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.