feeding

noun

feed·​ing ˈfē-diŋ 

1

: the act or process of eating or being fed

For a while zoos tried to control feeding by providing vending machines with pellets, but most have now banned it entirely.

—Phillip T. Robinson

—often used before another noun

a feeding schedule

feeding behavior

2

: an instance of feeding

two a.m. feedings

ready for a feeding

Examples of feeding in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are never enough breast feeding stations or play areas, and getting through security can feel like a nightmare. —Opheli Garcia Lawler, Travel + Leisure, 14 July 2025

The common fish, classed as micro-carnivores with tiny teeth, most likely survived on a steady diet of zooplankton or other small organisms, using suction feeding that required little breakdown of their small meals. —New Atlas, 13 July 2025

After millions of years of shaping the nation’s grasslands and forests through their feeding habits and seed dispersal, the moa went extinct roughly 150 years after the Māori arrived. —Andrea Marks, Rolling Stone, 8 July 2025

Spinosad is a great, safe and effective insecticide to use on all types of feeding caterpillars. —Chris McKeown, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing feeding

• breast-feeding
• care and feeding
• feeding frenzy
• feeding ground
• feeding tube

Rhymes for feeding

• beading
• bleeding
• breeding
• ceding
• heeding
• kneading
• leading
• needing
• pleading
• reding
• seeding
• speeding