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
During arti, you stood in front of the gods and offered them light, clutching a silver plate holding ghee-drenched cotton ball flames and marigolds.
From Salon ● Jul. 16, 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
Beside me, Tris holds a cotton ball to her pricked skin and offers me a small smile.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
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.
