cotton ball
Americannoun
-
cotton balls
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cotton ball
First recorded in 1750–55
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.
Segura, the nurse, removed the tube from my arm and pressed a cotton ball to the needle prick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2025
The cleverest hack is to simply soak a cotton ball in your favorite essential oil, drop it in the bottom of your trash can under the liner, and voila!
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2022
The material in the connective tissue gives it a loose consistency similar to a cotton ball that has been pulled apart.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
But somehow the fragile insects, each weighing about as much as a cotton ball, travel to the spot where their ancestors mated and began their own journey, at that time headed north.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2017
I sit down at the kitchen table and hum while I smear the thick pink polish all over the spoons with a cotton ball and watch it pull off the layer of black.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
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.
