wad
1 Americannoun
-
a small mass, lump, or ball of anything: a wad of tobacco.
a wad of paper;
a wad of tobacco.
-
a small mass of cotton, wool, or other fibrous or soft material, used for stuffing, padding, packing, etc.
-
a roll of something, especially of bank notes.
-
Informal. a comparatively large stock or quantity of something, especially money.
He's got a healthy wad salted away.
-
a plug of cloth, tow, paper, or the like, used to hold the powder or shot, or both, in place in a gun or cartridge.
-
British Dialect. a bundle, especially a small one, of hay, straw, etc.
verb (used with object)
-
wads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wadded,
past participle, past
-
wadding
present participle
-
to form (material) into a wad.
-
to roll tightly (often followed byup ).
He wadded up his cap and stuck it into his pocket.
-
to hold in place by a wad.
They rammed and wadded the shot into their muskets.
-
to put a wad into; stuff with a wad.
-
to fill out with or as if with wadding; stuff; pad.
to wad a quilt;
to wad a speech with useless information.
verb (used without object)
-
wads,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wadded,
past participle, past
-
wadding
present participle
idioms
noun
noun
-
a small mass or ball of fibrous or soft material, such as cotton wool, used esp for packing or stuffing
-
-
a plug of paper, cloth, leather, etc, pressed against a charge to hold it in place in a muzzle-loading cannon
-
a disc of paper, felt, pasteboard, etc, used to hold in place the powder and shot in a shotgun cartridge
-
-
a roll or bundle of something, esp of banknotes
-
slang a large quantity, esp of money
-
dialect a bundle of hay or straw
-
slang military a bun
char and a wad
verb
-
to form (something) into a wad
-
(tr) to roll into a wad or bundle
-
(tr)
-
to hold (a charge) in place with a wad
-
to insert a wad into (a gun)
-
-
(tr) to pack or stuff with wadding; pad
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
wadsimple
-
wadssimple
-
have waddedperfect
-
has waddedperfect
-
am waddingprogressive
-
are waddingprogressive
-
is waddingprogressive
-
have been waddingperfect progressive
-
has been waddingperfect progressive
Past
-
waddedsimple
-
had waddedperfect
-
was waddingprogressive
-
were waddingprogressive
-
had been waddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wad1
First recorded in 1400–50; Middle English wadde “small bundle of straw used as a pad beneath a horse’s girth to prevent chafing,” from Medieval Latin wadda; further origin uncertain
Origin of wad2
First recorded in 1605–15; origin uncertain
Explanation
A wad is a bundle or lump of something, like the wads of chewing gum you'll find if you look under your chair at school. Yuck! You can also call a wad a bundle, clump, or ball — most office trash cans contain wads of paper, and making a pillow involves stuffing it with wads of cotton or polyester material. Wad is also a verb, like when you wad up a damp hand towel and throw it in the laundry hamper. Etymologists guess that the Old Norse word vað, or "cloth," is the root of wad.
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:
A series of messages guided him to a wad of cash hidden under some rubbish near the entrance to a footpath tunnel.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Take, for instance, the dapper child who grimaces squarely at the camera with a wad of cash in his hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Other dentists were less sure about the wad of yellowish stuff stuck between his left front tooth and the tooth next to it.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2025
Rogers, he would explain, was always gnawing on a wad of gum.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025
The remaining wad of bills in the cupholder wouldn’t cover parking at the airport, much less four plane tickets.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
A homeless man reversed the typical pattern by handing out wads of cash to strangers.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Argentines for years have kept wads of cash at home as endless financial crises have eroded trust in the financial system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025
They’re now showering him with pleasantries, well wishes, and wads of cash.
From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2024
Clark: Can they reach their backs with those wads of cash in their hands?
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
Papa himself never greeted Papa-Nnukwu, never visited him, but he sent slim wads of naira through Kevin or through one of our umunna members, slimmer wads than he gave Kevin as a Christmas bonus.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The crowd was further energized by the presence of longtime Count Basie drummer Jo Jones—sitting near the stage, keeping time with a wadded up Christian Science Monitor newspaper—and even more so by Elaine Anderson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
All that shiny wrapping paper and ribbon, for instance, wadded into non-recyclable mounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
The painting is a large-scale, squarish, predominantly black canvas, with two pairs of actual woolen pants wadded up on the surface.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2022
When Nagornyy walked back to his teammates, he wadded up the athletic tape he was wearing into a ball and threw it in frustration.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2021
Himble took off his hat and wiped it across his brow, and his white hair gleamed in the moonlight like wadded cotton.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
The court also heard from Lucy Ness, who was given an urn containing "wadding and pieces of bone" instead of her baby's ashes.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
As he said in 1857, what was the point of celebrating the Fourth if the Declaration was now treated as “mere rubbish—old wadding left to rot on the battlefield”?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
On some trips, the boys would convince Dad to play football, wadding up a sock to serve as their pigskin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2023
Composed of salvaged vintage linen or dupioni silk and stuffed with mattresslike wadding and sometimes pieces of wood for stability, they only look hard; in reality, they’re soft, even slightly yielding.
From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2022
And then, as if she had just now remembered, she unhooked the clasp of her gold necklace and took it off, wadding the chain and the jade pendant in her palm.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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.
