gauze

American  

[gawz] / gɔz /

noun

• gauzes
  plural

1. any thin and often transparent fabric made from any fiber in a plain or open weave.

2. a surgical dressing of loosely woven cotton.

3. any material made of an open, meshlike weave, as of wire.

4. a thin haze.

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gauze British  

/ ɡɔːz /

noun

1. 1. a transparent cloth of loose plain or leno weave

   2. ( as modifier )

      a gauze veil

2. a surgical dressing of muslin or similar material

3. any thin openwork material, such as wire

4. a fine mist or haze

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gauzelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gauzes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gauze

First recorded in 1555–65; from French gaze; ultimate origin unknown

Explanation

Gauze is a loosely woven, almost translucent fabric that's used to bandage wounds. If you get a bad burn, a doctor might clean it and cover it with gauze. In medicine, gauze has several uses. Sterile gauze is usually kept in a sealed package, to ensure that it's perfectly clean. It can be used to clean cuts, scrapes, and burns, and also acts as a large bandage. There is also a non-medical fabric called gauze that's used in light, warm-weather clothing. The word's origin is mysterious — one guess traces it to the Arabic gazz, or "raw silk."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gauze gauzes

He does not have stitches and is not covered in gauze.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

“Midnight Movement” encases Monk’s best-known melody, “’Round Midnight” within a chiming, repeated figure and a gauze of natural overtones and synth tones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

Shortages, he said, run from basic consumables like gauze dressings and painkillers, all the way up to advanced medical equipment.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Between “Snooze” and “Crybaby,” she was lifted on wires, revealing a gauze train in the shape of a chrysalis, to spellbinding effect.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025

His arms were not burned and neither were his shoulders or back, but a thick swath of gauze ran over his stomach and chest.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

The shapes, like kimono jackets and sleeveless tunics and cropped palazzo pants in soft cottons or gauzes and Irish linens, are uncomplicated and designed to flatter.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2022

“Anyone from the street medic community needs medical supplies, they can stop by here and get Band-Aids, gauzes, medical patches,” they said.

From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2020

If Gardiner's brisk clarity, favouring symbolist hues over impressionist gauzes, sometimes stripped the score of an element of its mystery, the delicacy of the ORR's playing, in the final act especially, was something to savour.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 16, 2012

Talea ended the evening with “Bateau Ivre,” in which a Rimbaud-inspired John Zorn swathes his customary fractiousness in luminous gauzes pinched from Pierre Boulez’s linen closet.

From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2012

Many of the fabrics that we know of today came to Europe via the Muslims, and their names still show their origins: damask from Damascus, muslin from Mosul, gauzes from Gaza.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

Related Words

• dressing
• plaster