zing
Americannoun
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zings
plural
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vitality, animation, or zest.
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a quality or characteristic that excites the interest, enthusiasm, etc..
a tourist town with lots of zing.
-
a sharp singing or whining noise, as of a bullet passing through the air.
verb (used without object)
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zings,
present (3rd person singular)
-
zinged,
past participle, past
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zinging
present participle
-
to move or proceed with a sharp singing or whining noise.
The cars zinged down the highway.
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to move or proceed with speed or vitality; zip.
verb (used with object)
-
zings,
present (3rd person singular)
-
zinged,
past participle, past
-
zinging
present participle
-
to cause to move with or as with a sharp, singing or whining noise.
The pitcher zinged a slider right over the plate.
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Slang. to blame or criticize severely.
City Hall always gets zinged when crime increases.
noun
-
a short high-pitched buzzing sound, as of a bullet or vibrating string
-
vitality; zest
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
zingsimple
-
zingssimple
-
have zingedperfect
-
has zingedperfect
-
am zingingprogressive
-
are zingingprogressive
-
is zingingprogressive
-
have been zingingperfect progressive
-
has been zingingperfect progressive
Past
-
zingedsimple
-
had zingedperfect
-
was zingingprogressive
-
were zingingprogressive
-
had been zingingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of zing
First recorded in 1910–15; imitative
Explanation
Zing is a quality of excitement or enthusiasm. If you want to add some zing to your nephew's birthday party, you might want to hire a magician or offer pony rides. A director might add zing to her movie by enticing a big movie star to play a role, and your brother may tend to put extra zing in his stories in the form of exaggerated, colorful details. In both examples, zing makes something that's slightly dull seem a bit livelier. You can also use zing for a spicy or piquant flavor: "I put some cayenne pepper in the sauce to give it some zing."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The real zing comes from her addition of toasted and crushed Sichuan peppercorns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
It’s a great song pick with manic crescendos — You blow a fuse, zing boom!
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2025
After baking and cooling, each pie gets a brown sugar–orange glaze that hardens just enough to crack when you bite, a sprinkle of flaky Turbinado sugar, and, yes, more orange zest for that extra zing.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2025
After recovering from a serious hip injury, Breach has rediscovered her pinball zing.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2025
We all knew he was just joking and that whatever zing he was gonna attempt was just gonna be silly, but still, this was Sunny.
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
It’s a salad that can sit in the fridge for days without losing its snap, yet it’s never inert: a forkful zings, a little sweet, a little tart, a little green, a little peppery.
From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025
The amorphousness of the series — which zings between parodic edge and epiphanies — might be a function of its peculiar DNA.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2023
Yet as he lay horizontally watching the show in his red bunk bed, those same yips and mews and zings never got old.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
Packed with crunchy, sharp zings of onion, pickle and savory capers, this sauce delivers boldness.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2021
The truth of that sentence zings through me, zillions of times stronger than any shin pain.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
As Stinson’s anxiety appeared to be spiraling, Trevino — looking at his cap — zinged him: “Dodgers, are you kidding me?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2023
Mr. Biden’s list includes another prominent former Republican senator, Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a popular wisecracking moderate who worked across the aisle even as he zinged politicians and journalists with his sharp wit.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2022
In 2019, Lukas zinged trainer Mark Casse by saying they combined with Bob Baffert for 29 Triple Crown victories: 14 for Lukas and 15 for Baffert.
From Seattle Times ● May 19, 2022
Now on the mound, the lefty zinged it.
From Fox News ● Sep. 20, 2021
A tingling sensation zinged across my shoulders and up my neck.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Still, theater critics zinging Zacharia’s lack of polish are missing the point.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
"This is one of those few shows that I'm involved in where I can go 'you need to come. It's really good', because the zinging one-liners are all his."
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
In the case of “Marty Supreme,” set in the early 1950s, that means a radical use of electronica: sequenced beats, zinging harps and treated choir voices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
From the control room next door, the animals show up as dots on the computer monitors, looking like remote-control Ping-Pong balls zinging around the room and occasionally coming to rest in odd corners.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 16, 2023
Yes, it was true that panic was shooting up and down my spine and zinging out to my fingertips.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
