targeting

Definition of targetingnext
present participle of target

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 targeting Taylor, a fluid 6-foot-5, is already the Jets’ second-best receiver and plays with a quarterback, Justin Fields, who is prone to targeting tight ends — fifth-highest tight end target rate since 2021, and Cole Kmet had a career-high 719 yards with Fields as his quarterback in 2023. Jacob Robinson, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for targeting
Verb
  • Student and faculty critics also accused the university of being too slow to respond to complaints about a rising star astrophysicist, Christian Ott, accused or harassing and discriminating against female graduate students as early as 2012.
    Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2026
  • While colectivo members were largely quiet immediately after Maduro’s abduction, some videos released on social media and news outlets have shown men believed to be colectivo members harassing reporters and people in the streets.
    Rebecca Hanson, The Conversation, 6 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Pittsburgh appeared to go three-and-out on its second drive, but Cleveland's Rayshawn Jenkins was called for taunting.
    CBS News, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
  • While negligible to his overall earnings, the penalty fits the league’s recent crackdown on celebrations and taunting, as several players were fined earlier this season for similar actions.
    Rowan Fisher-Shotton, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • In her exhaustive chronicle, Jennings traces the long folkloric history of monk-tormenting demons.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 31 Oct. 2025
  • As in much of McGuane’s fiction, the natural environment—in this case, the vitreous Florida flats, and the angler-tormenting tarpon, permit, and bonefish that populate them—provides the foil.
    Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 30 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • For reasons not entirely or even mostly of her own doing, Sweeney has become an exasperating celebrity — not above baiting the press, but so painstakingly media trained that her public appearances are devoid of substance and any sense of personality.
    Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025
  • People who are deaf or blind or veterans who have been declared 100% disabled, are eligible for special Independence hunts that allow baiting.
    Georgea Kovanis, Freep.com, 3 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • The strengths that those same opponents will spend long hours trying to account for — Nix’s pestering speed, a relentless pass-rush that produced a franchise-record 68 sacks, including four of Lance — aren’t changing either.
    Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026
  • No kid brother tagging along, pestering him with questions, pushing up on his social circle.
    Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 31 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • That thing’s been bugging on him for a while.
    Pete Sweeney, Kansas City Star, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Then Julian dropped one of his wireless earbuds into Olympia’s purse, using it as a crude bugging device.
    Noel Murray, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • The former Nickelodeon sitcom stars posted a new video on Instagram Wednesday, teasing what appeared to be a casual interaction as Peck sipped on a large drink in a plastic container.
    Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Nov. 2025
  • The Japan Mobility Show is in full swing in Tokyo, and some of the largest automotive brands in the world are debuting and teasing vehicle concepts that could shape their future portfolios.
    Charles Singh, USA Today, 5 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Jeremy Allen White brilliantly channels The Boss without mimicking him.
    Henry Selick, IndieWire, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Prescribed burns help clean up forest debris and stimulate new growth, mimicking natural fire patterns in the high country.
    Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 5 Nov. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Targeting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/targeting. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.

More from Merriam-Webster on targeting

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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