- present participle of fill.
filling
Americannoun
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fillings
plural
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an act or instance of filling.
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something that is put in to fill something else.
They used sand as filling for the depression.
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Dentistry. a substance such as cement, amalgam, gold, or the like, used to fill a cavity caused by decay in a tooth.
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a food mixture that goes into something, as if to fill it.
sandwich filling; pie filling.
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Also called pick, weft, woof. Textiles. yarn carried by the shuttle and interlacing at right angles with the warp in woven cloth.
noun
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the substance or thing used to fill a space or container
pie filling
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dentistry
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any of various substances (metal, plastic, etc) for inserting into the prepared cavity of a tooth
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the cavity of a tooth so filled
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textiles another term for weft
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of filling
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at fill, -ing 1
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:
Musk’s forthright, crusty dad Errol sounds almost proud that something was bullied out of his son, but the movie avoids filling out that traumatic childhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Now, demographic trends are filling those empty rooms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu set out a timetable on Sunday urging local authorities to prioritise filling gaps left by long-term teacher absences and unfilled posts.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Mostly the Murray study consisted of interviews and the filling out of pencil-and-paper personality tests.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
Stopping to catch his breath, Jeremy suddenly realized that the sense of panic and danger filling his head had faded.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
It’s likely that pumpkins for pie fillings will cost more, he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
One photo showed a human jawbone complete with teeth and dental fillings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
UV light is used for air purification, curing resins in 3D printing, hardening gels in dental fillings, and even applications such as nail treatments.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
Founded in Woodstock, N.Y., in 2021, Moonrise makes bagels stuffed with fillings like tomato sauce and cheese.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026
Every afternoon he took his three-mile walk, no matter the weather, and returned cheerful, his smile full of gold fillings.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
