penning 1 of 2

verb (1)

present participle of pen
as in enclosing
to close or shut in by or as if by barriers remember to pen up the dogs when visitors come over

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

penning

2 of 2

verb (2)

present participle of pen
as in writing
to compose and set down on paper the words of though relatively unknown at the time of his death, the composer had penned some of the most memorable show tunes of his era

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of penning
Verb
That same year, Barret wrote for the shows Sea Hunt, Hawaiian Eye and Ripcord before penning an episode of My Favorite Martian in 1963, beginning a sitcom career that would last through the 1980s. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2026 The studio is developing the romantic drama feature Vineyard Haven, with All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll penning the script and serving as executive producer, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026 Investigators believe Roberts tried to enlist the help of a school janitor to get rid of Russell’s car, penning a note and leaving it hidden inside a cabinet at Linda Lentin K-8 Center in North Miami, where Roberts was working at the time. — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 9 Oct. 2026 The series is directed by Susanna Lira, with Valentina Castello Branco, Gabriela Altaf and Fabiana Assis penning the script. — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026 The location is where famed writer Edgar Allan Poe began penning short stories and launched his literary career in the 1830s. — CBS News, 5 Oct. 2026 In September 1981, Leckey started penning his own column for the Sun-Times on investing and personal finance while continuing to report on economics, banking and accounting. — Bob Goldsborough, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026 The couple, who tied the knot in the season 1 finale, are also set to start penning the first pages of their very own love story this season. — Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penning
  1. enclosing
  2. writing
  3. housing
  4. including
  5. confining
  6. encasing
  7. surrounding
  8. caging
Verb
  • The attack is not so much a matter of precision as enclosing an area—hopefully a space that the fly is within when her jaws slap shut.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Each petal serves both structural and aesthetic purposes, enclosing a vast central hall that can accommodate up to 2,500 worshippers.
    — Kieron Marchese, Architectural Digest, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of enclosing
Verb
  • During a taping of THR Presents, Jusic discussed writing a script designed around mutual misunderstanding, playing with horror tropes, and the film’s modern-day relevance.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Still, Intak, who has writing credits on every song on the EP alongside Jongseob, wanted the lyrics to show a harder, more mature edge.
    — Jeff Benjamin, Billboard, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of writing
Verb
  • Ugreen says this capability adds the option for enterprise-class endurance and sustained write performance in the main storage bay, which would be beneficial for housing active project files, virtual machine storage, or databases.
    — John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The area was home to four base camps, housing the teams from Argentina, Netherlands, England and Algeria (in Lawrence).
    — Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of housing
Verb
  • Residents reported experiencing the tremor in several cities, including Arcata, Garberville, McKinleyville and Whitethorn according to the USGS DYFI report.
    — CA Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2026
  • She was recognized for her humanitarian support, including human rights and charitable activities aimed at helping Ukrainian children, according to the presidential website.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of including
Verb
  • Corporations have responded with caution, especially in regulated sectors like banking and healthcare, confining deployments to narrow pilots whose early returns are far more modest than AI enthusiasts advertise.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Potentially containing trillions of parameters — values learned during training — frontier models require vast computing resources, largely confining them to data centers, where they can be more easily monitored and, in principle, switched off.
    — Robert Hart, The Verge, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of confining
Verb
  • Little Miner’s version isn’t so much a riff as an homage, with a flour tortilla encasing queso sauce, tortilla chips, chipotle aioli, lettuce, tomato, raw onion, sour cream and a choice of proteins.
    — Warren Rojas, Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The spigots serve as injection ports, where crews can pump grout behind the tunnel wall, with the goal of coating and encasing the entire tunnel lining under the Newtown Creek in a waterproof layer, filling any cracks along the way.
    — Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 19 July 2026
Definition of encasing
Verb
  • The core plasma must stay searingly hot for atomic nuclei to fuse, but the surrounding chamber walls must stay cool enough to avoid structural failure.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Mike Katinsky, an ACLU volunteer election monitor, said the attention surrounding Fulton County's election operations may have contributed to efforts to maintain transparency.
    — Jamal Goss, CBS News, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of surrounding
Verb
  • The brand partnered with Swarovski on a limited edition caging the product in a golden or silver metallic structure embellished with 70 zirconia, in a quest to turn a familiar, everyday object into a collectible design piece.
    — Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • None of the people involved in caging the fawn were identified, according to the release.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2026
Definition of caging

Browse Nearby Words

penniless
penning
pennon
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Penning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penning. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

The Words of the Week - Nov. 6

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All