ribbon
Americannoun
-
a woven strip or band of fine material, as silk or rayon, varying in width and finished off at the edges, used for ornament, tying, etc.
-
material in such strips.
-
anything resembling or suggesting a ribbon or woven band.
-
a band of inked material used in a typewriter, adding machine, etc., that supplies ink for printing the figure on the striking typeface onto the paper beneath.
-
a strip of material, as satin or rayon, being or representing a medal or similar decoration, especially a military one.
an overseas ribbon.
-
ribbons,
-
torn or ragged strips; shreds.
clothes torn to ribbons.
-
reins for driving.
-
-
a long, thin flexible band of metal, as for a spring, a band saw, or a tapeline.
-
Also called ribbon board. Also called ledger, ledger board. Also called ribbon strip,. Carpentry. Also a thin horizontal piece attached to studding to support the ends of joists.
-
Architecture. came.
-
Nautical. Also a distinctive narrow band or stripe painted along the exterior of a hull.
-
Shipbuilding. ribband.
verb (used with object)
-
to adorn with ribbon.
-
to mark with something suggesting ribbon.
-
to separate into ribbonlike strips.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a narrow strip of fine material, esp silk, used for trimming, tying, etc
-
something resembling a ribbon; a long strip
a ribbon of land
-
a long thin flexible band of metal used as a graduated measure, spring, etc
-
a long narrow strip of ink-impregnated cloth for making the impression of type characters on paper in a typewriter or similar device
-
(plural) ragged strips or shreds (esp in the phrase torn to ribbons )
-
a small strip of coloured cloth signifying membership of an order or award of military decoration, prize, or other distinction
-
a small, usually looped, strip of coloured cloth worn to signify support for a charity or cause
a red AIDS ribbon
verb
-
to adorn with a ribbon or ribbons
-
to mark with narrow ribbon-like marks
-
to reduce to ribbons; tear into strips
Other Word Forms
- ribbon-like adjective
- ribbonlike adjective
- ribbony adjective
- unribboned adjective
Etymology
Origin of ribbon
First recorded in 1520–30; variant of Middle English riban(d), from Old French, variant of r(e)uban, perhaps from Germanic; band 2
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.
He grabbed Handsome’s present, which he also spruced up by tying a bright yellow ribbon around it, and left his cave.
From Literature
Just as we were leaving, Daisy yelled, “Jay Berry, you’d better not forget my ribbon. If you do, you’d better not come home.”
From Literature
Early in the Games, two of the USA's gold medallists, Breezy Johnson and Alysa Liu, revealed the ribbon had come away from their medals soon after they received their prize.
From BBC
“Jesse Jackson asked me to wear a ribbon. I got it,” Goldberg said during her opening.
From Los Angeles Times
Yellow ribbons festooned some nearby trees, and an offering of flowers, many fresh from the stream of new visitors, was heaped near Guthrie’s mailbox.
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.
