wallpaper
Americannoun
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paper, usually with printed decorative patterns in color, for pasting on and covering the walls or ceilings of rooms, hallways, etc.
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any fabric, foil, vinyl material, etc., used as a wall or ceiling covering.
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Computers. a design or picture in the background of the primary display screen of a graphical user interface.
Personalize your tablet by changing the wallpaper.
verb (used with object)
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wallpapers,
present (3rd person singular)
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wallpapered,
past participle, past
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wallpapering
present participle
noun
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paper usually printed or embossed with designs for pasting onto walls and ceilings
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something pleasant but bland which serves as an unobtrusive background
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( as modifier )
wallpaper music
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computing a graphics file that can be displayed in certain applications behind or around the main dialogue boxes, working display areas, etc, for decoration
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wallpapersimple
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wallpaperssimple
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have wallpaperedperfect
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has wallpaperedperfect
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am wallpaperingprogressive
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are wallpaperingprogressive
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is wallpaperingprogressive
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have been wallpaperingperfect progressive
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has been wallpaperingperfect progressive
Past
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wallpaperedsimple
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had wallpaperedperfect
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was wallpaperingprogressive
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were wallpaperingprogressive
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had been wallpaperingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wallpaper
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:
Witkoff has become so ubiquitous in international transactions that his role as the co-founder of Trump’s business has all but faded into the gilt wallpaper of the Oval Office.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Thanks to the dictionary pages she uses for wallpaper, she has a large vocabulary and is prone to ruminating about her ultimate purpose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
After several thousand hours of filming, the wallpaper is changed to provide clients with variety.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
One user posted an image of an abandoned office space, with mustard yellow wallpaper and fluorescent lighting.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
He has been dragged into the conversation, which he had been observing with the affectation of someone hoping to recede into the wallpaper.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
He raised the roof of the house he inherited; added wings, a porch and a cupola; and selected—along with his wife, Martha—the interior’s paint colors, wallpapers and furniture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
The great outdoors played a significant role in the design of the home, which was outfitted with multiple organic elements, including silk wallpapers, fossil stone floors, and rich wood accents and beams throughout.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
The popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee has announced he plans to shut down his subscription app for mobile phone wallpapers, Panels.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
“Certain colors get canceled out. You have to think about wallpapers, upholstery and drapery fabric. Those are the big things.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
They had restored the great chandelier, the gilt columns, the finely patterned wallpapers, installing screens where there had been stages.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Common to much of the user-generated content are eerie images and haunting stories of mysterious, yellow wallpapered corridors and empty office-like spaces that exist outside of, or beyond, reality itself.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
From wallpapered ceilings and hand-painted murals to lattice-covered walls and dueling kitchen islands, each room is a visual delight, even if it’s not your personal taste.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
Now, ahead of the big game, the league has effectively wallpapered its image onto Las Vegas.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
Jenkins has designed rooms with wallpapered ceilings featuring elaborate florals, clouds and multicolored, marbleized patterns.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2023
Risking injury, my father and Jimmy Papanikolas carried everything up the secret stairway behind the wallpapered door.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Another option: wallpapering the ceiling instead of the walls.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
She says the company took her and her colleagues on training courses to learn how to to do DIY, such as painting and wallpapering.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2023
These long chains of fractions could stretch out across 15 feet of notebook pages wallpapering his cell.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 2, 2023
Within months, Pate, 28, became Green’s partner in wallpapering, her protégé and her best friend.
From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2022
The mural itself had been damaged in spots by all the wallpapering done over it, so she was not able to make out the artist’s signature.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
