Definition of TIDING

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Good tidings we bring to you and your kin, goes a line from the popular 16th-century carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Another carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (1833), speaks of "tidings of comfort and joy." Although there is nothing inherent in the meaning or origin of "tiding" that specifically pertains to Christmas (it derives via Middle English from Old English and relates to betide, meaning "to happen especially by fate"), we most often see the word in contexts pertaining to the Christmas season. The most notable usage, perhaps, occurs in Luke 2:10 of the King James Bible, when the angel delivers the news of the arrival of the Savior: "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."

Examples of tiding in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive those good tidings—especially when wrapped up in Martin Katz’s black opal, diamond, amethyst, and tsavorite earrings pictured above? — Stellene Volandes, Town & Country, "Stellene’s Most Wanted: Colored Gems," 10 Sep. 2019 This feature is described in local parlance as the phenomenon in which the trees are in direct communication with the firmament of the heavens and bring good tidings to the ground underneath. — Alfred Oteng-yeboah, Quartz Africa, "Ghana’s pact with China for bauxite mining threatens to ravage a biodiverse forest," 21 Aug. 2019 Reality intruded on the good tidings of Boston being baseball goodwill ambassadors. — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, "Red Sox help grow the game, but also their deficit," 29 June 2019 The situation has been exacerbated by similar tidings in the fortunes of the housing finance company DHFL and Reliance Capital. — Shachindra Nath, Quartz India, "India’s NBFCs, wrongly called shadow banks, need the government’s backing," 3 July 2019 Other celebs like Lauren Jauregui, Josephine Skriver, and Sophia Bush also chimed in with happy tidings for her news. — Claire Dodson, Allure, "Shay Mitchell Announced Her Pregnancy on Instagram," 29 June 2019 Anne Hathaway has gifted us with some good tidings on this rather harried news day: The Princess Diaries 3? — Vogue, "Anne Hathaway Confirms The Princess Diaries 3 Is in the Works—With Someone Very Important on Board," 25 Jan. 2019 Uniqlo Cards for Hope Make your tidings go farther. — Tanya Moskowitz, WSJ, "Art Director Tanya Moskowitz’s Gift Guide: In the Bag," 18 Dec. 2018 Many analysts and investors believed in March 2009 that, even with broad market indexes down 40% and more from their peaks 18 months earlier, worse tidings were yet to come. — Akane Otani, WSJ, "U.S. Stocks Poised to Enter Longest-Ever Bull Market," 21 Aug. 2018

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