ding

verb (1)

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\ ˈdiŋ

dinged; dinging; dings

Definition of ding

(Entry 1 of 4)

intransitive verb

1 : to make a ringing sound : clang

2 : to speak with tiresome reiteration

transitive verb

: to dwell on with tiresome repetition keeps dinging it into him that the less he smokes the better— Samuel Butler †1902

ding

noun (1)

plural dings

Definition of ding (Entry 2 of 4)

: a sharp ringing sound heard the ding of the timer

ding

noun (2)

Definition of ding (Entry 3 of 4)

: an instance of minor surface damage (such as a dent)

ding

verb (2)

dinged; dinging; dings

Definition of ding (Entry 4 of 4)

transitive verb

1 informal

a : to strike or knock against got dinged on the elbow

b : to cause minor surface damage to ding a car door

c : to do harm to … has struggled of late to win customers back after reports of a norovirus outbreak … circulated in July, once again dinging the chain's reputation.— Sarah Whitten If they don't hit the mark, their review, pay, and chances at promotion get dinged.— Nanette Byrnes et al.

d : to cause a usually minor injury to On Jan. 20, Joel Embiid dinged his knee in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers. The ever-cautious Sixers held the big man out of the next two games with what was described as a "left knee contusion."

2 informal : to penalize or criticize Joseph's time hasn't been without some controversy, including recently when the state dinged the district for starting the year with several administrators not holding Tennessee teaching and administrative licenses.— Jason Gonzales Historical accounts dinged the Cadburys for not doing enough to help with cocoa worker conditions and slavery in Africa.— Michael S. Rosenwald

Examples of ding in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The tariff did ding some domestic mining operators. — Yvonne Lau, Fortune, 8 June 2021 Carve out 20 minutes in your calendar. Give yourself 20 minutes of focus; use your phone timer to keep track and ding when the time is up. — Lara Hogan, Forbes, 1 June 2021 Opening accounts may temporarily ding his scores, but typically the new account will add points over time if used responsibly. — Liz Weston, oregonlive, 15 May 2021 More skeptical evaluators ding him for his unpolished approach to pass rushing. — Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, 27 Apr. 2021 The team’s pitching staff — the ones lucky enough to remain ding-and-dent-free — belongs in baseball’s early season Louvre after 20 games. — Bryce Miller Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Apr. 2021 Aside from a couple of ding-a-lings, my professors were superb. — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 11 Apr. 2021 Some have used this reality as a political weapon to ding drug developers for their profits, but that’s missing the deeper point: basic research and commercialization are two sides of the same coin, each crippled without the other. — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2021 Adding another card or two may ding your scores in the short run but also could add points long term. — Liz Weston, oregonlive, 21 Mar. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Here, the monotony of his everyday — the ding of his metro pass, a mouse click on a spreadsheet, his feet hitting the gravel for a daily run — serves as an unrelenting soundtrack for his anonymous routine as the dull head of a dreary nuclear family. — Robert Daniels, Los Angeles Times, 25 Mar. 2021 The campaigns increasingly reached into people's personal space with a constant barrage of get-out-and-vote texts that made cell phones ding and buzz at all hours. — Fox News, 24 Mar. 2021 Well, Baylor lost to Kansas for its first ding on Saturday. — Shannon Ryan, chicagotribune.com, 1 Mar. 2021 For the first, the front door of the museum has been rigged to set off a ding when opened, like that of a convenience store. — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2021 One careless drop or ding during transit can ruin a hunt, when time spent afield must be wasted re-tuning sights, limbs, or cables. — The Editors, Outdoor Life, 1 Dec. 2020 The Pro Max was fine, while the mini suffered a small ding at the bottom of the phone. — Kaya Yurieff, CNN, 12 Nov. 2020 But the first ding against them Wednesday came in the halls of a United States Senate hearing room – not from the Tampa Bay Rays. — Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 14 Oct. 2020 But if his illness is prolonged or worsens, his 2020 hopes will take a serious ding, Schwartz said. — Nicole Goodkind, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Now on Friday, a Virginia federal judge dinged the site for another $4.8 million for the same infringing behavior, this time from a lawsuit brought by the American Chemical Society. — David Kravets, Ars Technica, 6 Nov. 2017 Back inside, clusters of bodies lay crumpled along the ground as ammunition dinged the metal roof of the bar near the back of the venue. — Author: Wesley Lowery, Alaska Dispatch News, 3 Oct. 2017 But a glut of new restaurants and a change in consumer spending habits have dinged the industry. — Joe Gose, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ding.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.