02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

stuff  
  

Meaning of stuff in English

 

stuff
noun

UK  /stʌf / US  /stʌf /

stuff noun (THING(S))

Add to word list 
B1 [ U ] informal

a substance, especially when you do not know or say exactly what it is:

• There's sticky stuff all over the chair.

• What's this black stuff?

• He drinks gallons of tea - he loves the stuff.

 
[ U ] informal

things that someone says or does, when you are referring to them in a general
way without saying exactly what they are:

• All that stuff she has been saying about Lee is just not true.

• We did some really interesting stuff today.

• I have to go now - I've got stuff to do.
• I've read all her books - I really like her stuff.
 

[ U ] informal

someone's possessions or things that they take somewhere with them:

• We'll have to carry all our camping stuff.

• Do you want help bringing your stuff in from the van?
• We can't move to a smaller place - we've got too much stuff.

 and stuff informal 

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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

 
 
used to refer to more things of a similar kind to ones you have mentioned,  

when you do not say exactly what they are:

• This is the drawer where I keep paper and envelopes and stuff.

See more

 Fewer examples

• The kids always clutter the hall up with school bags and coats and stuff.
• I love milk - I drink gallons of the stuff.
• I've got some stuff to do at home, so I'm going to take off now.
• I like modern art to a certain extent, but I don't like the really experimental stuff.

• He leaves all the difficult stuff for me to do and it really annoys me.

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

stuff noun (QUALITY)

 
[ U ] US

someone's skill or great abilities:

• great stuff Avery had great stuff, total command of all three of his pitches.

• show your stuff An interview is a chance to show your stuff.

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Grammar

Thing and stuff

We use the general noun thing more commonly in speaking than in writing. …

Thing
We use the general noun thing more commonly in speaking than in writing. …

Stuff
Stuff is one of the most common nouns in speaking. It is more informal than thing. It is not at all
common in writing. …


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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Idioms   

do your stuff
good/great/lovely stuff!
stuff and nonsense
the stuff of something

 

stuff
verb

UK  /stʌf / US  /stʌf /

stuff verb (FILL)

 
[T ]

to completely fill a container with something:

• Stuff the pillow and then sew up the final seam.

• (be) stuffed with Under her bed, they found a bag stuffed with money.
 

C2 [ T ] informal

to push something into a small space, often quickly or in a careless way:

• stuff something into something This suitcase is absolutely full - I can't stuff another
thing into it.
 
[T ]

to fill the body of a dead animal with special material so that it looks as if it is
still alive

[ T ] mainly UK offensive

(of a man) to have sex with a woman

 More examples

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases


stuff verb (FOOD)
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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Contents 
To top  
[T ]    

to fill food with stuffing:

• Stuff the turkey, then put it into a pre-heated oven.

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

stuff verb (EAT)

 stuff yourself informal

 

to eat a lot:

• stuff yourself with something They'd been stuffing themselves with snacks all
afternoon, so they didn't want any dinner.

• I spent the evening stuffing myself with shrimp the size of lobsters.
• There she was, stuffing herself with doughnuts.

• We stuffed ourselves with smoked salmon sandwiches.

• It's not a good idea to stuff yourself with junk food.

 Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

stuff verb (BASKETBALL)

 

[ T ] US informal

to jump up and force a basketball down through the basket (= goal) in order to
score:

• He can stuff the ball with either hand.

Synonym
dunk

 SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

Idioms   

get stuffed!
stuff it, them, you, etc.
stuff your face

(Definition of stuff from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

stuff | AMERICAN DICTIONARY

stuff
noun [ U ]

US  /stʌf /

stuff noun [U] (SUBSTANCE)

Add to word list 

a substance or material:

• What’s the black stuff on the rug?

• This stuff tastes good.

stuff noun [U] (THINGS)

 

a group of different things, activities, or matters:

• We helped him move his stuff to the new apartment.

• I’ve got a lot of stuff to do this weekend.

• They’d heard all this stuff before.

 

stuff
verb [ T ]

US  /stʌf /

stuff verb [T] (FILL)

 

to fill the inside of something:

• I can’t stuff another thing into this suitcase. 

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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

 
 
 before
To stuff a turkey, or other meat or vegetable, is to fill it with other food 

cooking it.
 

If you stuff yourself, you eat a large amount of food:

• The kids stuffed themselves with snacks.

(Definition of stuff from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

EXAMPLES of stuff

stuff
In so doing, she has replaced the musical world of the area - 'stagey stuff' - with that of her
childhood.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

I really cannot take all this stuff seriously.

From the Cambridge English Corpus 

It seems that there is something different in ecology from the stuff that seemed 'factual' in the
basic biology stuff.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

This evolution of models is the stuff of scientific progress.

From the Cambridge English Corpus 

It is, first, a polemical discourse that trumpets the advantages of the worsteds or ' stuffs ' over
traditional woollens.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

We trawled at 300 fathoms but only got a bit of stuff, but it turned out very valuable.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

When speakers back then used a substance term, they were referring to samples of stuff
bearing a certain equivalence relation to paradigmatic samples.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

While monetary benefits are the traditional stuff of social policy, they are unusual in a care
context in a number of respects.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

A green olive is often stuffed with this. 

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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
From the Cambridge English Corpus 
   

It feels to you as if there's stuff there to be touched by movement of the hands.

From the Cambridge English Corpus 

These were not arcane debates, but the stuff of community interest, likely to move citizens
when constitutions were judged by popular vote.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

This is noticeable right from the start in the first chapter; lots of good stuff but the reader is left
feeling rather confused.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Sometimes that stuff takes up 60% of the review, maybe because the guy doesn't know what
he's talking about.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

Far from being the inanimate stuff typically envisioned by modern thought, materials in this
original sense are the active constituents of a world-in-formation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

This is the stuff of life, the very heartland of our human existence, and it is surely time to focus
our skills upon it.
From the Cambridge English Corpus 

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of
the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of stuff? 

Translations of stuff

in Chinese (Traditional)

物質, 物品，東西，玩意, （泛指）說（或做)的事…

See more

in Chinese (Simplified)

物质, 物品，东西，玩意儿, （泛指）说（或做)的事…

See more

in Spanish
material, cosa, maestría…
See more

in Portuguese 

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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

coisa, negócio, rechear…

See
more
 

in more languages 

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study holiday
study skills BETA

study under someone phrasal verb

studying
stuff
stuff and nonsense idiom
stuff bag
stuff it, them, you, etc. idiom
stuff sack

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More meanings of stuff

 All

kid stuff
sob stuff
stuff bag


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02/03/2025, 13:51 STUFF | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

kids' stuff
   
Soft Stuff
stuff sack
the hard stuff
See all meanings

 Idioms and phrases

 

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UK  /ˈfrɪk.ʃən.ləs/ US  /ˈfrɪk.ʃən.ləs/

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through something)

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