chicken wire

American

noun

a light, wire netting having a large, hexagonal mesh, used especially as fencing.

chicken wire British

noun

wire netting with a hexagonal mesh

"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

Etymology

Origin of chicken wire

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20

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:

chicken wire

Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern that looks like chicken wire.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2025

The rooms have no ceilings and are instead covered in chicken wire.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025

By all accounts, visiting the site from inside the chicken wire is a crimped and diminished experience.

From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2025

Roger Rose, from Burton Latimer, where Kettering's ground is, is repairing a previous "chicken wire" fence with neater plastic mesh.

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2024

I landed knee and elbow first in the pile of chicken wire.

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023