Fluffy describes something soft, light, and full of air, like a pile of freshly folded towels or a cloud floating across the sky. When you fluff up a pillow by hitting it a few times, you're making it plumper and softer by getting air inside it. A cat's tail might look especially fluffy when the cat gets startled and all its fur stands on end.

The word often describes things that feel pleasant to touch: fluffy blankets, fluffy pancakes, or fluffy snow that's perfect for making snowballs. Bakers talk about beating eggs until they're light and fluffy, meaning full of tiny air bubbles that make cakes rise.

Sometimes people use fluffy to describe writing or thinking that sounds nice but doesn't say much. If a book report is too fluffy, it might have flowery language but lack real substance or clear ideas. A fluffy answer to a serious question might sound good but dodge the real issue. In this sense, being fluffy means being all surface and no depth, like cotton candy that seems big but melts away to almost nothing.