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.
This outer coating helps cells interact with their surroundings and may also provide important clues about what is happening inside the cell itself.
From Science Daily • May 18, 2026
When cooked, it forms a lightly tangy, almost caramelized coating that makes it seem like you put in more effort than you did.
From Salon • Apr. 28, 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
“She had difficulties already in her life, and there’s no sugar coating that. So we had to navigate this argument that what social-media addiction does is it preys upon the vulnerable more times than not.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
Then she plucked ferns and grasses from the ground and sank their roots into her new muddy coating.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
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.
