ribbon
Americannoun
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a woven strip or band of fine material, as silk or rayon, varying in width and finished off at the edges, used for ornament, tying, etc.
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material in such strips.
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anything resembling or suggesting a ribbon or woven band.
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a band of inked material used in a typewriter, adding machine, etc., that supplies ink for printing the figure on the striking typeface onto the paper beneath.
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a strip of material, as satin or rayon, being or representing a medal or similar decoration, especially a military one.
an overseas ribbon.
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ribbons,
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torn or ragged strips; shreds.
clothes torn to ribbons.
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reins for driving.
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a long, thin flexible band of metal, as for a spring, a band saw, or a tapeline.
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Also called ribbon board. Also called ledger, ledger board. Also called ribbon strip,. Carpentry. Also a thin horizontal piece attached to studding to support the ends of joists.
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Architecture. came.
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Nautical. Also a distinctive narrow band or stripe painted along the exterior of a hull.
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Shipbuilding. ribband.
verb (used with object)
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to adorn with ribbon.
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to mark with something suggesting ribbon.
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to separate into ribbonlike strips.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a narrow strip of fine material, esp silk, used for trimming, tying, etc
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something resembling a ribbon; a long strip
a ribbon of land
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a long thin flexible band of metal used as a graduated measure, spring, etc
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a long narrow strip of ink-impregnated cloth for making the impression of type characters on paper in a typewriter or similar device
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(plural) ragged strips or shreds (esp in the phrase torn to ribbons )
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a small strip of coloured cloth signifying membership of an order or award of military decoration, prize, or other distinction
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a small, usually looped, strip of coloured cloth worn to signify support for a charity or cause
a red AIDS ribbon
verb
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to adorn with a ribbon or ribbons
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to mark with narrow ribbon-like marks
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to reduce to ribbons; tear into strips
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ribbonsimple
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ribbonssimple
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have ribbonedperfect
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has ribbonedperfect
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am ribboningprogressive
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are ribboningprogressive
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is ribboningprogressive
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have been ribboningperfect progressive
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has been ribboningperfect progressive
Past
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ribbonedsimple
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had ribbonedperfect
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was ribboningprogressive
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were ribboningprogressive
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had been ribboningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ribbon
First recorded in 1520–30; variant of Middle English riban(d), from Old French, variant of r(e)uban, perhaps from Germanic; see band 2
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:
My children and I watched a video on a phone screen last week: Venezuelan officials cut a ribbon at what used to be our family home in Caracas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
And she’s recently cut the ribbon on Café do Capa, an open-air capybara-themed stop along the cycling path.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
By comparison, only one out of 55 eastern ribbon snakes and three out of 36 ring necked snakes tested positive.
From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026
The Old Course opened in 2012 and the US president cut the ribbon on the New Course during his four-day private visit to Scotland last summer.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
It was a ribbon of water, dotted with rocks like black turtles raising their backs to the sun.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Crisp bacon, juicy diced tomatoes and ribbons of shaved green cabbage get folded in at the end, where they stay cool, crunchy and unmistakably BLT-adjacent.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
A hot-strip mill flattens thick slabs of heated steel into long, thin ribbons of sheet steel that are wound into coils and shipped to customers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
And then, the turn: each bowl is finished with a poached egg, ribbons of chard, lemon, aioli and toast.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026
Yellow ribbons are tied around mailboxes and roadside library posts.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
Idiptu had gotten himself a replacement bowler hat, this one decorated with red ribbons.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Proceedings start in Jedburgh with the ribboned ball being thrown into a ruck of the two teams.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Light jazz played from unseen speakers in a grassy landscape ribboned with walkways and dotted with drought-tolerant shrubbery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2025
And Fredrik himself, perhaps not realizing he’s bringing skoals to Newcastle, bears a neatly wrapped and ribboned bottle of champagne.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
From here, go anywhere you please: via ribboned dark greens and fried breadcrumbs, cherry tomatoes and a few pats of butter, tinned fish and a shower of fresh dill, ground lamb and dry red wine.
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2022
She curled a loose strand of hair behind my ribboned braids.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
What, didn’t you see all the New Year’s Eve eulogies sliding across your feed like tears ribboning down millions of teenagers’ cheeks?
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026
While the two roads ribboning away from the intersection were easily identifiable, everything else in the frame had changed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
Every single part of the dress is made out of duct tape, including its striped ribboning, embroidered flowers, flowy sleeves and intricate lacework.
From Fox News ● Jul. 23, 2021
“So if you’re in a pet shop, do not call her,” Venus said, her arms and legs ribboning out like plains-state freeways from her shorts and tank top.
From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2019
And sometimes there were swirling eddies of warmth, a bit of sun-drenched water ribboning around her.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
