cushion

1. 1.

   a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses

   “the old car needed a new set of shocks”

   Synonymsshock absorbershock

   Broaderdamper

   Narrowerair cushion

   Part ofsuspension
2. 2.

   the layer of air that supports a hovercraft or similar vehicle

   Broaderlayer
3. 3.

   a soft bag filled with air or a mass of padding such as feathers or foam rubber etc.

   Broaderpadding

   Narrowerair cushiongaddihassockheadrestpillowpincushionseat cushionthrow pillow

1. 1.

   protect from impact

   “cushion the blow”

   Synonymsbuffersoften

   Broadermodify

Other forms of cushion

plural

cushions·

past tense

cushioned·

present participle

cushioning·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about cushion

What does cushion mean?

cushion means "a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in cushion?

cushion has 2 syllables: cus-hion. The stress falls on "cus". In IPA it is /ˈkʊʃən/.

What is another word for cushion?

Close synonyms include shock absorber, shock, buffer, soften. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is cushion a common word?

cushion is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.