padding

American  

[pad-ing] / ˈpæd ɪŋ /

noun

• paddings
  plural

1. material, as cotton or straw, used to pad something.

2. something added unnecessarily or dishonestly, as verbiage to a speech or a false charge on an expense account.

3. the act of a person or thing that pads.

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padding British  

/ ˈpædɪŋ /

noun

1. any soft material used to pad clothes, furniture, etc

2. superfluous material put into a speech or written work to pad it out; waffle

3. inflated or false entries in a financial account, esp an expense account

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paddings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of padding

First recorded in 1820–30; pad ¹ + -ing ¹

Explanation

A cushioning or protective material is padding. When you're moving into a new apartment, you might want to wrap your dishes in padding to keep them from being damaged. Padding has many different uses, from the padding in a padded mailing envelope to the padding in a sofa cushion that gives you a soft place to sit. There's also padding inside protective sports gear and built into yoga mats. Sometimes padding is simply used to make something seem bigger, and from this meaning comes the sense of padding meaning "unnecessary extra material," especially superfluous words in a speech or a book.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

padding paddings

To her, lily padding is the future of work, not just a trend, as people who follow the tactic try to reach more senior roles and higher pay.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

In terms of narrative, however, there is not enough to sustain a full season without some serious padding.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

There was Molly Hollis, a middle-aged, Midwestern former schoolteacher whose creation required body padding and a wig; a flamboyant redhead; a nearly invisible elderly woman; and, most uncannily, Reichl’s own mother.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

Firms including Bud Light beer and the Polymarket prediction market have their names emblazoned on the padding of the ring for the $60-million-dollar tournament.

From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026

I’m sitting in the backyard with my drawing pad in my lap while Mom works in the garden, padding its perimeter with bark chips and seaweed.

From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day

The freshly dead were still encased in woolen paddings or blue uniforms.

From Time Magazine Archive

And billah, she has stuffings and paddings, too.

From The Book of Khalid by Ameen Fares Rihani

Fancy stitches and cunning invention which provided for thrice the usual number of cartridges told one tale; flannel paddings which sought to make of the military appointment a winter garment told another.

From The Relief of Mafeking How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900 by Filson Young

I have got rid of the trammels pretty well,—haven't I?—have unshackled myself, and thrown off the paddings, and the wrappings, and the swaddling clothes.

From He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope

They swallowed their liqueurs, and the ashes of their cigars fell on the paddings of the furniture.

From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Gustave Flaubert