pulp

American  

[puhlp] / pʌlp /

noun

1. the soft, juicy, edible part of a fruit.

2. the pith of the stem of a plant.

3. a soft or fleshy part of an animal body.

4. Also called dental pulp. the inner substance of the tooth, containing arteries, veins, and lymphatic and nerve tissue that communicate with their respective vascular, lymph, and nerve systems.

5. any soft, moist, slightly cohering mass, as that into which linen, wood, etc., are converted in the making of paper.

6. a magazine or book printed on rough, low-quality paper made of wood pulp or rags, and usually containing sensational and lurid stories, articles, etc.

7. Mining.

   1. ore pulverized and mixed with water.

   2. dry crushed ore.

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verb (used with object)

• pulps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pulped,
  past participle,  past
• pulping
  present participle

1. to reduce to pulp.

2. to reduce (printed papers, books, etc.) to pulp for use in making new paper.

3. to remove the pulp from.

verb (used without object)

• pulps,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pulped,
  past participle,  past
• pulping
  present participle

1. to become reduced to pulp.

pulp British  

/ pʌlp /

noun

1. soft or fleshy plant tissue, such as the succulent part of a fleshy fruit

2. a moist mixture of cellulose fibres, as obtained from wood, from which paper is made

3. 1. a magazine or book containing trite or sensational material, and usually printed on cheap rough paper

   2. ( as modifier )

      a pulp novel

4. dentistry the soft innermost part of a tooth, containing nerves and blood vessels

5. any soft soggy mass or substance

6. mining pulverized ore, esp when mixed with water

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verb

1. to reduce (a material or solid substance) to pulp or (of a material or solid substance) to be reduced to pulp

2. (tr) to remove the pulp from (fruit)

pulp Scientific  

/ pŭlp /

1. The soft tissue forming the inner structure of a tooth and containing nerves and blood vessels.

2. The soft moist part of a fruit, especially a drupe or pome.

3. The soft pith forming the contents of the stem of a plant.

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pulp Cultural  

1. The soft tissue, containing blood vessels and nerves, that makes up the interior of the tooth.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pulper
  noun
• depulp
  verb (used with object)
• pulpless
  adjective
• pulplike
  adjective
• unpulped
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• pulping
  present
• pulped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pulp
  simple
• pulps
  simple
• have pulped
  perfect
• has pulped
  perfect
• am pulping
  progressive
• are pulping
  progressive
• is pulping
  progressive
• have been pulping
  perfect progressive
• has been pulping
  perfect progressive

Past

• pulped
  simple
• had pulped
  perfect
• was pulping
  progressive
• were pulping
  progressive
• had been pulping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pulp
  simple
• will have pulped
  perfect
• will be pulping
  progressive
• will have been pulping
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of pulp

1555–65; earlier pulpe < Latin pulpa flesh, pulp of fruit

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Explanation

Pulp is a soft, squishy, or slightly wet mush. The soft inside part of your tooth is pulp, and the soft flesh of a peach is also pulp. There are many kinds of pulp, including the soggy stuff that starts out as trees and ends up as paper. The process of turning wood into paper starts with pulp, the stripped wood fibers that are steamed and ground or mixed with chemicals before being bleached and dried. Magazines printed on very rough, inexpensive paper were once also referred to as pulps, leading to the name "pulp fiction" for cheap, sensational books and magazines.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pulp pulps pulped pulping

Having come face to face with its most brutal consequences, Cassie’s rose-colored glasses have been removed, stomped on, ground to a pulp and had their remains burnt to ash.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

But even then, the film feels energized by its bold mixture of pulp pleasures and weighty musings, operating with a bruising efficiency that Ali’s skilled assassin would no doubt respect.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Cheaper, faster-growing eucalyptus from Brazil, excluded from recent tariffs, has displaced domestic pulp.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

For now, Carney's planned Canadian retaliatory duties are strategic "dollar-for-dollar" countermeasures focused on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, pulp and paper - though the list is still being finalised.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

Devlin crushed his cigar to a pulp, but being a businessman through and through, he knew when he was defeated.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

Although similar imagery would grace the covers of salacious pulp magazines after World War I, there was a difference between Picou’s era and that of the pulps.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

She’s the one with the purple hair and chunky glasses — not the sort of cover model you’d see in the original pulps.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2022

You remember the children you got that you did not get, The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair, The singers and workers that never handled the air.

From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2021

It was Fairbanks who first turned this creature of the pulps into a towering legend.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2020

In other cases the pulps had partly calcified under tin.

From Tin Foil and Its Combinations for Filling Teeth by Henry Lovejoy Ambler

Southern California’s “Edenic” climate would be promoted on paper made from the pulped trunks of “demoniacal” trees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025

While their treatment of the ancient world is informed, to say the least, by their prior work, the scenario also feels like Hallmark pulped through a Disney strainer.

From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2023

After the cellulose is pulped, the water is extracted and then used in the subsequent bleaching process.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2023

She counseled readers to stick to fresh grated coconut, sweetened with a little sugar in alternating layers with pulped oranges.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2023

They pulped her paper and sold it at the marketplace for a considerable sum.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

DMS also results from kraft pulping, producing a ghastly, retch-inducing smell you’ll have noticed if you’ve ever driven by a paper processing plant.

From Salon ● May 31, 2025

Healthcare providers should be “shredding, burning, pulping, or pulverizing” paper patient health records, the agency says in an FAQ.

From The Verge ● Aug. 30, 2022

In practice, Mr Mulomba uses a simple smartphone app to scan QR codes that give him information about a particular bag of coffee, such as the weight and pulping data.

From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2022

When pro-democracy protesters stormed the secret police precincts in 1989 and 1990, they found officers at work inside, shredding, pulping and tearing documents by hand.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2021

The bowman grasped and engaged the for'ard falls, pulping one of his fingers in the operation.

From The Wireless Officer by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

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