- [uncountable, countable] a narrow piece of material, used to tie things or for decoration
- Her present was tied with yellow ribbon.
- lengths of velvet ribbon
- She was wearing two blue silk ribbons in her hair.
Extra ExamplesTopics Clothes and Fashionc1- He tied some gold ribbon around the present.
- Her hair was tied back with a black silk ribbon.
- She had a pink ribbon in her hair.
- The Lord Mayor cut a ribbon to launch the celebrations.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- wide
- narrow
- …
- length
- piece
- tie
- tie something with
- tie something back with
- …
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- [countable] something that is long and narrow in shape
- The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
- [countable] a ribbon in special colours, or tied in a special way, that is given to somebody as a prize or as a military honour, or that is worn by somebody to show that they belong to a particular political party compare rosette
- [countable] a long narrow piece of material containing ink (= coloured liquid for writing, drawing, etc.) that you put into typewriters and some computer printers
Word Originearly 16th cent.: variant of riband. The French spelling ruban was also frequent in the 16th–18th cents.
Idioms
See ribbon in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycut a/the ribbon (on something)
- to officially open a building, road, etc. with a special ceremony that typically involves cutting a ribbon across the entrance
- The prince cut the ribbon to officially open the building.
- Yesterday the mayor cut the ribbon on the new sports centre.
- to officially start something, such as a business project or activity
- Today we're happy to cut the ribbon on a project that will improve safety for cyclists.
cut/tear, etc. something to ribbons
- to cut/tear, etc. something very badly
- His coat was torn to ribbons by the barbed wire fence.
Check pronunciation:
ribbon