English Reference
Idiom idiom

pad out


To add something extra to something to make it appear more substantial.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

You need to pad out your essay to reach the required length.

CONTEXTUAL

The writer had to pad out the short story with extra descriptions to fill the remaining pages of the book.

COMPLEX

Rather than focusing on quality, the speaker chose to pad out the presentation with irrelevant statistics to make the project seem more significant than it truly was.


Related idioms1entry
  1. 01

    padded cell

    A room in a mental hospital lined with padding on the walls, and often a cushioned floor, in order to prevent occupants from injuring themselves.

Last updated August 10, 2026