powder puff
noun
a soft, feathery ball or pad, as of cotton or down, for applying powder to the skin.
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powder puff
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powder-puff
powder-puffadjectivelimited to participation by women or girls.
powder puff
1 Americannoun
powder-puff
2
American
[pau-der-puhf]
/ ˈpaʊ dərˌpʌf /
adjective
Informal.
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limited to participation by women or girls.
She plays on the powder-puff touch football team.
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inconsequential; trifling; lightweight.
a powder-puff company with little financing and a weak sales effort.
powder puff
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of powder puff1
First recorded in 1695–1705
Origin of powder-puff2
First recorded in 1935–40
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:
Oh, that newspaper bit about council member Lindsey and the powder puff?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2022
The Sun Devils haven't been world-beaters so far, but they've played two powder puff opponents.
From Fox News ● Sep. 17, 2021
She imagines swooning in his arms like some gauzy thirties film starlet, propped up on a blue powder puff and surrounded by thornless roses as he tells her he loves her.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 9, 2015
In the early years, stock car races, demolition derbies and powder puff races happened at the track.
From Washington Times ● May 7, 2015
She took one from the stack, wiped her hands and tapped at her face as she had seen Mami do with the powder puff.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
More timidity to observe, more vulnerability in defence, more powder-puff stuff up front, more wide men running in ever decreasing circles.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
At 5-5 City were going out because of those three away goals conceded by their powder-puff backline: whatever Guardiola claims, defence is his and City’s glaring faultline.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 16, 2017
Her career almost ended during a charity powder-puff football game during her junior year at Eastern High School in Vorhees, N.J.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2016
Mr. Mars channels the powder-puff vocals of Jason Mraz on “Count on Me” as well as on “Marry You,” which borrows liberally from Coldplay in its spacious drums and forceful velocity.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2010
The girl shrugged her shoulders, and made a disdainful face, and suddenly taking the powder-puff, she dabbed it upon his cheek.
From Maximina by Armando Palacio Valdés
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
