noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming.
2. 2
   a compact mass of hair that forms in the alimentary canal (especially in the stomach of animals as a result of licking fur) wordnet
3. 3
   A messy, tangled, intractable issue. figuratively, slang

   "The contract negotiations are turning into a real hairball."

Synonyms

All synonyms

bezoarbezoarfurballgoat ropegoat ropehair ball

Example

More examples

"Felix left a hairball in my shoe."

Etymology

From hair + ball.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.