WOOLLY (woollier, woolliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: woollier    , woolliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does woolly mean? 

• WOOLLY (adjective)
  The adjective WOOLLY has 4 senses:

1. having a fluffy character or appearance

2. confused and vague; used especially of thinking

3. covered with dense often matted or curly hairs

4. covered with dense cottony hairs or hairlike filaments

  Familiarity information: WOOLLY used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WOOLLY (adjective)

Comparative: woollier   
Superlative: woolliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a fluffy character or appearance

Synonyms:

flocculent; woolly; wooly

Similar:

soft (yielding readily to pressure or weight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Confused and vague; used especially of thinking

Synonyms:

addled; befuddled; muddled; muzzy; woolly; woolly-headed; wooly; wooly-minded

Context example:

woolly-headed ideas

Similar:

confused (mentally confused; unable to think with clarity or act intelligently)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Covered with dense often matted or curly hairs

Synonyms:

woolly; woolly-haired; wooly; wooly-haired

Context example:

woolly lambs

Similar:

haired; hairy; hirsute (having or covered with hair)

Derivation:

wool (outer coat of especially sheep and yaks)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Covered with dense cottony hairs or hairlike filaments

Synonyms:

lanate; woolly

Context example:

the woolly aphid has a lanate coat resembling cotton

Similar:

haired; hairy; hirsute (having or covered with hair)

 Context examples 

Thick, woolly hair covered every part of it, and a more dreadful-looking monster could not be imagined.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

But the woolly mammoth existed until about 3,700 years ago when they finally went extinct.

(Genetic ‘Mutational Meltdown’ Doomed Woolly Mammoths, VOA)

The discovery shows the Ancient North Siberians endured extreme conditions in the region 31,000 years ago and survived by hunting woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and bison.

(DNA from 31,000-year-old milk teeth leads to discovery of new group of ancient Siberians, University of Cambridge)

And now, if I do but step into the parlour, I can see her once more, with over eighty years of saintly life behind her, silver-haired, placid-faced, with her dainty ribboned cap, her gold-rimmed glasses, and her woolly shawl with the blue border.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It argues that some Ice Age megafauna—which in North America include the woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cat and giant sloth—used ancient Tibet as a training ground for developing adaptations that allowed them to cope with a harsh climate.

("Out of Tibet" hypothesis: Cradle of evolution for cold-adapted mammals is in Tibet, NSF)

A genetic “mutational meltdown” helped push the woolly mammoth toward extinction, according to a new study.

(Genetic ‘Mutational Meltdown’ Doomed Woolly Mammoths, VOA)

A little way down the room I saw the black face and woolly head of Bill Richmond, in a purple-and-gold footman’s livery—destined to be the predecessor of Molineaux, Sutton, and all that line of black boxers who have shown that the muscular power and insensibility to pain which distinguish the African give him a peculiar advantage in the sports of the ring.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

According to researchers, woolly mammoths were once very common in North America, Siberia and Beringia, which is the land bridge that used to exist between current day Russia and the U.S. state of Alaska.

(Genetic ‘Mutational Meltdown’ Doomed Woolly Mammoths, VOA)