1
: a small mass, bundle, or tuft: such as
a
: a soft mass especially of a loose fibrous material variously used (as to stop an aperture, pad a garment, or hold grease around an axle)
b(1)
: a soft plug used to retain a powder charge or to avoid windage especially in a muzzle-loading gun
(2)
: a felt or paper disk used to separate the components of a shotgun cartridge
c
: a small mass of a chewing substance
a wad of gum
2
: a considerable amount (as of money)
3
a
: a roll of paper money
b
: money
wadded; wadding
1
a
: to insert a wad into
wad a gun
b
: to hold in by a wad
wad a bullet in a gun
2
: to form into a wad or wadding
especially
: to roll or crush into a tight wad
3
: to stuff or line with some soft substance
wadder
noun
Synonyms
Noun
- abundance
- barrel
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- chunk
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- mass
- mess
- mountain
- much
- multiplicity
- myriad
- oodles
- pack
- passel
- peck
- pile
- plateful
- plenitude
- plentitude
- plenty
- pot
- potful
- profusion
- quantity
- raft
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- shipload
- sight
- slew
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wealth
- yard
Verb
Examples of wad in a Sentence
Noun
He spent a wad on clothes.
a starlet who usually gets a big wad of publicity for her nonstop antics
Verb
she wadded up the paper and threw it in the wastebasket
Recent Examples on the Web
Kylie Robison, Fortune, 9 Mar. 2024
Helicopters will bring in hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs to plant along the banks, including wads of tree roots to create habitat for fish.
—Adam Beam, Fortune, 31 July 2023
One man throws a wad of cash down into the ring, creating a scrum of men scrambling in the cloud of bills.
—Toby Muse, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2024
If paper towels aren’t available, Justyna gently taps a wad of toilet paper on her wet hands, as rubbing with any material can make things worse.
—Sarah Klein, SELF, 27 Feb. 2024
Knead the putty thoroughly to mix the two parts, then jam the wad into the socket.
—Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
In September 2018, a worker at a local FedEx store called to report that multiple people had been coming into the shop and stuffing wads of cash into packages addressed to the border town of San Ysidro, California (Fed-Ex prohibits the shipment of cash).
—Lisa Cavazuti, NBC News, 10 Feb. 2024
Clayton Law put an envelope with a wad of cash on his kitchen counter in early December.
—Jessica Guay, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2024
At a time when many businesses only accept electronic payments and many people never carry cash, Wade made a mess of explaining why Willis was handing over wads of untraceable dollars.
—Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024
Winter dutifully wrote everything down, hung up the phone, and handed the paper to Chase — who promptly wadded it up into a ball and threw it in the trash, unread.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 Jan. 2024
On some trips, the boys would convince Dad to play football, wadding up a sock to serve as their pigskin.
—Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2023
Just a ball and, in a pinch, wadded up socks or paper will do.
—Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 18 July 2023
Glass had webbed on the mirror and wadded paper towels were scattered on the wet floor around the sink.
—Hazlitt, 14 June 2023
Using a grill brush, thoroughly scrape the grill grate clean and oil it (wad up paper towels, dip them briefly in vegetable oil, then use tongs to rub the grill grate with them).
—Dallas News, 1 June 2021
Squib loads, or loads with insufficient or no powder to drive the bullet, shot or wad out of the barrel, create an obstruction.
—Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Mar. 2021
Squeeze as much water out of the quilt as possible, being careful not to wad, wring or bunch the quilt with your hands.
—oregonlive, 15 Oct. 2020
Noun
Competing with YouTube, which is owned by Google, isn’t exactly easy, but luring creators with wads of cash could help X catch up.
—Kylie Robison, Fortune, 9 Mar. 2024
Helicopters will bring in hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs to plant along the banks, including wads of tree roots to create habitat for fish.
—Adam Beam, Fortune, 31 July 2023
One man throws a wad of cash down into the ring, creating a scrum of men scrambling in the cloud of bills.
—Toby Muse, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2024
If paper towels aren’t available, Justyna gently taps a wad of toilet paper on her wet hands, as rubbing with any material can make things worse.
—Sarah Klein, SELF, 27 Feb. 2024
Knead the putty thoroughly to mix the two parts, then jam the wad into the socket.
—Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
In September 2018, a worker at a local FedEx store called to report that multiple people had been coming into the shop and stuffing wads of cash into packages addressed to the border town of San Ysidro, California (Fed-Ex prohibits the shipment of cash).
—Lisa Cavazuti, NBC News, 10 Feb. 2024
Clayton Law put an envelope with a wad of cash on his kitchen counter in early December.
—Jessica Guay, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2024
At a time when many businesses only accept electronic payments and many people never carry cash, Wade made a mess of explaining why Willis was handing over wads of untraceable dollars.
—Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2024
Verb
After 30 minutes or so, wad up the towels and use them to scrub and wipe off the glass.
—Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024
Winter dutifully wrote everything down, hung up the phone, and handed the paper to Chase — who promptly wadded it up into a ball and threw it in the trash, unread.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 3 Jan. 2024
On some trips, the boys would convince Dad to play football, wadding up a sock to serve as their pigskin.
—Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2023
Just a ball and, in a pinch, wadded up socks or paper will do.
—Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 18 July 2023
Glass had webbed on the mirror and wadded paper towels were scattered on the wet floor around the sink.
—Hazlitt, 14 June 2023
Using a grill brush, thoroughly scrape the grill grate clean and oil it (wad up paper towels, dip them briefly in vegetable oil, then use tongs to rub the grill grate with them).
—Dallas News, 1 June 2021
Squib loads, or loads with insufficient or no powder to drive the bullet, shot or wad out of the barrel, create an obstruction.
—Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Mar. 2021
Squeeze as much water out of the quilt as possible, being careful not to wad, wring or bunch the quilt with your hands.
—oregonlive, 15 Oct. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wad.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near wad
Cite this Entry
“Wad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wad. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
wad
1 of 2 noun1
: a small mass, bundle, or tuft
a wad of cotton
2
: a soft pad or plug used to hold a powder charge in a gun or cartridge
3
a
: a roll of paper money
b
: a large amount (as of money)
spent a wad on clothes
wad
2 of 2 verb
wadded; wadding
1
: to form into a wad or wadding
wad up a handkerchief
2
: to stuff or line with soft material
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