- present participle of wad.
wadding
Americannoun
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any fibrous or soft material for stuffing, padding, packing, etc., especially carded cotton in specially prepared sheets.
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material used as wads for guns, cartridges, etc.
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Surgery. any large dressing made of cotton or a similar absorbent material that is used to stanch the flow of blood or dress a wound.
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a wad or lump.
noun
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any fibrous or soft substance used as padding, stuffing, etc, esp sheets of carded cotton prepared for the purpose
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a piece of this
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material for wads used in cartridges or guns
Etymology
Origin of wadding
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.
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
It is a pastime that requires next-level commitment, though, as Ioan often spends days deep underground at a time, digging passages, or wadding through partially submerged caves.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2023
The statement was posted with a hashtag:#BanBlanks, calling for an end to the use of blank cartridges, which contain gunpowder and paper wadding or wax.
From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2021
There was reportedly no wadding for the blanks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2021
Some folded the tiny squares into love knots, some into triangles, but most were wadding them, then pressing them flat on their yellow laps.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
