fluff

/fləf/

/fləf/

Other forms: fluffed; fluffs; fluffing

Fluff is a soft, light puffy or feathery material. Your pet angora rabbit is covered in fluff, and when you blow the down off a dandelion, you can call that fluff too.

A department store window designer might use white cotton fluff as snow in his holiday display, and a bored dog might pull the fluff out of every pillow in the house while you're at work. The word fluff is also a verb meaning "to shake or ruffle until something looks fuller." It's also a great way to describe something meaningless or frivolous: "I had high hopes for the newspaper article, but it was just fluff."

Definitions of fluff

1. noun

   any light downy material
   type of:

   material, stuff

   the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
2. noun

   something of little value or significance
   synonyms: bagatelle, folderol, frippery, frivolity

   type of:

   small beer, trifle, trivia, triviality

   something of small importance
3. verb

   erect or fluff up
   synonyms: ruffle

   type of:

   loosen

   make less dense
4. verb

   ruffle (one's hair) by combing the ends towards the scalp, for a full effect
   synonyms: tease

   type of:

   comb, comb out, disentangle

   smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb
5. verb

   make a mess of, destroy or ruin
   synonyms: ball up, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, botch, botch up, bumble, bungle, butcher, flub, foul up, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, screw up, spoil

   type of:

   fail, go wrong, miscarry

   be unsuccessful
6. noun

   a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)
   type of:

   bloomer, blooper, blunder, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, foul-up, pratfall

   an embarrassing mistake