padding

American  

[pad-ing] / ˈpæd ɪŋ /

noun

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.

---

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

---

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

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

Mexico, and Canada over the next month—already may be padding Nike’s pockets through wholesale distribution.

From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026

Les Bleus, as the team is known, will be perusing the breakfast buffet and padding around the plush carpets of Boston’s Four Seasons.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

Three-time champion and newly appointed stickler Mike Newby crowned Andrew Bailey the 2026 winner after he bravely opted to compete without straw padding.

From BBC • May 30, 2026

He felt quiet and at peace with himself when he was padding around a hot zone in a space suit, carrying a rack of test tubes that held an unknown deadly agent.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston