bandage
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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a piece of material used to dress a wound, bind a broken limb, etc
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a strip of any soft material used for binding, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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bandagernoun
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rebandageverb (used with object)
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unbandageverb (used with object)
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well-bandagedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bandagesimple
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bandagessimple
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have bandagedperfect
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has bandagedperfect
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am bandagingprogressive
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are bandagingprogressive
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is bandagingprogressive
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have been bandagingperfect progressive
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has been bandagingperfect progressive
Past
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bandagedsimple
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had bandagedperfect
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was bandagingprogressive
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were bandagingprogressive
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had been bandagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bandage
From Middle French, dating back to 1590–1600; see origin at band 2, -age
Explanation
A bandage is a piece of tape or cloth that's used to slow the flow of blood from a cut or another wound. Any good first aid kit is equipped with plenty of bandages. A bandage can vary from being a tiny plastic strip you stick on the spot where your cat scratched you to a thick, wide cloth that's applied to a serious injury at a hospital. You can also use it as a verb: "If I were you, I'd bandage that skinned knee so it doesn't get dirty." Bandage is a Middle French word, from the Old French bander, "to bind," and ultimately bande, "a strip."
Vocabulary lists containing bandage
Mother's Day Words: What Mothers Do
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Unit 9
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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:
Someone in the crowd applied a bandage to his head and he was quickly taken to an emergency room.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
These stories are harsh and brief, like a bandage ripped from a wound.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
His right hand shows persistent bruising, often covered with thick makeup and at times a bandage, and his ankles have appeared swollen.
From Barron's ● Jan. 1, 2026
But any payment is only a bandage for a deeply rigged market.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025
I could see the wide gauze bandage across his eyes.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
"I told myself, I'm going to sleep," Canonico recalled, up to her elbows in bandages following the ordeal.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
In media, a great new hire or a hard-earned bit of reader goodwill are just fresh bandages placed over a wound that must be constantly treated.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
During Greco-Roman times, Egyptian artists were called upon to inscribe funerary spells on linen mummy bandages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
Today was perhaps the closest Parliament had come to removing those bandages.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
She had bare legs and was applying bandages to her blistered toes.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
But still, when I speak to him afterwards, his heavily bandaged leg throbbing, he is determined.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
Megan announced the news on Instagram alongside a bandaged heart emoji and said she would step away from the production Friday rather than the originally slated May 17.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026
There was a sizeable police presence in the area and visibly shocked local residents were in the streets, including some with bandaged faces.
From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026
Then she slow-motion struts down an L.A. sidewalk in heels, barges into the meeting, props her bloody, bandaged foot on the table, and somehow still closes the deal with the celebrity stylist.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025
I look down at my now-expertly bandaged knee.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
Lifeguards at Bondi have been praised for their courage on the day of the December 14 attack, dragging people to safety, bandaging and resuscitating victims, and pulling panicked swimmers from the waves.
From Barron's ● Dec. 20, 2025
"The treatment of human wounds was most likely first mentioned in a medical manuscript that dates back to 2200 BC, which included cleaning, plastering, and bandaging of wounds with certain wound care substances," says Schuppli.
From Science Daily ● May 2, 2024
Even though I was covered in thick bandaging, my chest was now flatter than it had been in a long time.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2023
The owl underwent a nearly four-hour surgery that involved putting in an “external fixator in the leg,” reconstructing its beak and bandaging its fractured wing, a Facebook post said.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2023
Then they scoured my head clean and tied up my hair in ringlets with cotton rags that stuck out all over like a frightful job of bandaging.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
