ping-pong

¹ American  

[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

verb (used with object)

1. to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.

   The patient was ping-ponged from one medical specialist to another.

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verb (used without object)

1. to go back and forth; change rapidly or regularly; shift; bounce.

   For ten years the foreign correspondent ping-ponged between London and Paris.

Ping-Pong ² American  

[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

Trademark.

1. table tennis.

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Ping-Pong British  

/ ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ /

noun

1. Also called: ping pong.  another name for table tennis

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Etymology

Origin of ping-pong

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

The dragging of ship anchors, a main way cables get taken out, can damage even armored cables, which are wrapped in steel wire but still roughly the diameter of a ping-pong ball.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

“Most engineers want to do the 1:00 to 3:45 with a ping-pong break and an hour lunch. That’s the way the Valley worked,” McCardel said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

The bill is currently at the stage of its parliamentary journey known as "ping-pong", where legislation moves between the Commons and Lords until agreement is reached on its final wording.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Timothee Chalamet had long appeared a lock for his pushy 1950s ping-pong player in "Marty Supreme."

From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026

Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf, or even just some stupid game like ping-pong.

From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger