flannel
Americannoun
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a soft, slightly napped fabric of wool or wool and another fiber, used for trousers, jackets, shirts, etc.
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a soft, warm, light fabric of cotton or cotton and another fiber, thickly napped on one side and used for sleepwear, undergarments, sheets, etc.
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flannels,
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an outer garment, especially trousers, made of flannel.
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woolen undergarments.
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British.
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a washcloth.
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Informal. nonsense; humbug; empty talk.
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Informal. flattery; insincere or overdone praise.
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verb (used with object)
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to cover or clothe with flannel.
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to rub with flannel.
noun
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a soft light woollen fabric with a slight nap, used for clothing
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(plural) trousers or other garments made of flannel
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See cotton flannel
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US and Canadian equivalent: washcloth. a small piece of cloth used to wash the face and hands; face cloth
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informal indirect or evasive talk; deceiving flattery
verb
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to cover or wrap with flannel
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to rub, clean, or polish with flannel
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informal to talk evasively to; flatter in order to mislead
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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flannelsimple
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flannelssimple
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have flanneledperfect
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have flannelledperfect
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has flanneledperfect
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has flannelledperfect
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am flannelingprogressive
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am flannellingprogressive
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are flannelingprogressive
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are flannellingprogressive
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is flannelingprogressive
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is flannellingprogressive
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have been flannelingperfect progressive
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have been flannellingperfect progressive
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has been flannelingperfect progressive
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has been flannellingperfect progressive
Past
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flanneledsimple
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flannelledsimple
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had flanneledperfect
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had flannelledperfect
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was flannelingprogressive
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was flannellingprogressive
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were flannelingprogressive
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were flannellingprogressive
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had been flannelingperfect progressive
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had been flannellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flannel
1300–50; Middle English flaunneol, perhaps dissimilated variant of flanyn sackcloth < Welsh; compare Welsh gwlanen woolen article, equivalent to gwlân wool (akin to Latin lāna ) + -en suffix denoting a single item (as a piece of a mass noun or singular of a collective plural)
Explanation
Flannel is a warm, soft cotton or wool fabric. Plaid work shirts are commonly made of flannel. Flannel has been around since the 1700s, when it was created in Welsh textile mills. Pants made of flannel became popular throughout Britain by the early 20th century, particularly in sports like cricket — these trousers are often called flannels. Another kind of flannel is a washcloth or cloth for cleaning. The word flannel is probably related to the Welsh gwlanen, "woolen cloth."
Vocabulary lists containing flannel
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:
A grey flannel coat was inspired by film noir, featuring a stripe detail that took inspiration from Venetian blinds.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Even in an era where the 200-inning starter has gone the way of the flannel uniform, Ohtani would need to log more innings to garner serious Cy Young consideration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
"Free our president," read a placard held by a man with a red flannel shirt which bore the image of Maduro's predecessor and mentor, late socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez.
From Barron's ● Jan. 5, 2026
And, when I need it the most, a freshly washed flannel shirt comingled with the oddly pleasant aroma of uncooked meat.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
Meanwhile, a vest required some internal structure and a fabric to support it—a wool gabardine, say, or a flannel.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
We get multiple nondescriptive lists: khakis, leather jackets, flannels, baggy denim, work jeackets, graphic T-shirts, sweaters and rugby tops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Her recent Netflix lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, which featured her upcycling supermarket bouquets and scenting flannels with lavender water, wasn't received entirely warmly either.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2025
I got through the worst years of puberty thanks to grunge fashion; huge T-shirts and flannels helped me camouflage.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2024
Wear your furs or flannels this year at The Octopus Bar’s 2022 Furs and Flannels New Year’s Eve party.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
One of them, however, much younger than the others, wearing gray flannels and a blue tie, had left his pen lying in front of him and was looking at me.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
But by the time the woman and her daughter were down the block, the teacher was back with her flock of T-shirted and flanneled teenagers.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2016
This kind of talk by young statesmen of a type called by the late Rudyard Kipling "flanneled fools" does not go down in Warwick, the constituency of Mr. Eden.
From Time Magazine Archive
With a big grass-stain on his white flanneled knee, William Tilden, champion of the world, limped over to the umpire's stand and wiped Bis bleak face with a towel.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Hoogstraten, sunburned, flanneled, led a shirtsleeved orchestra.
From Time Magazine Archive
But they were mostly memories of sheepsheads and flanneled bathers and 'tis not for these that the poet gazes into the emerald depths whence the pearly scum, like tears of mermaids—Ah!
From Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870 by Various
It's much too large a subject to be left to what Kipling called "the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goal".
From The Guardian ● Apr. 22, 2010
Cable covered more ground than the others too, and he was more trenchant and more direct more often, while they flannelled.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 29, 2010
Rudyard Kipling, England's national, not to say nationalistic, poet, dismissed England's two national games very scornfully: "The flannelled fools at the wicket, the muddied oafs at the goals."
From Time Magazine Archive
How I blessed those stolid, flannelled figures, for in a few minutes his face had settled back into repose, the colour had returned, and he was deriding the Surrey bowling in healthy irritation.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
True, he was disguised as a flannelled fool, with a sketch-book under his arm.
From The Limit by Leverson, Ada
"The trick," he explains conspiratorially, "is to just keep flannelling until you can remember what you were talking about in the first place."
From The Guardian ● May 17, 2012
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.
