wad

¹wad

noun \ˈwäd\

Definition of WAD

1

: a small mass, bundle, or tuft: 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

Examples of WAD

1. He spent a wad on clothes.
2. <a starlet who usually gets a big wad of publicity for her nonstop antics>

Origin of WAD

Middle English wadde, from Medieval Latin wadda

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to WAD

Synonyms

abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, 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, lot, wealth, yard

Antonyms

ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace

Related Words

epidemic, plague, rash; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; deluge, flood, overflow; army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng; gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion

Near Antonyms

atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit; smatter, smattering; dash, drop, morsel, shot; piece, portion, section; absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want; deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness

Rhymes with WAD

bod, clod, fade, Fahd, gaud, god, hod, mod, nod, od, odd, plod, pod, prod, quad, quod, rod, scrod, shod, sod, squad, tod

²wad

transitive verb

wad·dedwad·ding

Definition of WAD

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

— wad·der noun

Examples of WAD

1. <disgusted, she wadded up the paper and threw it in the wastebasket>

First Known Use of WAD

1579

Related to WAD

Synonyms

agglomerate, ball, roll, round

Antonyms

unroll

Related Words

bunch, clump, lump; bead, pearl, pellet, pelletize; sphere

Near Antonyms

flatten, open, smooth, spread, unfold