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• ping-pong
  ping-pong

  verb (used with object)

  to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.
• Ping-Pong
  Ping-Pong

  table tennis.

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

See Examples For:

ping-pong Ping-Pong

Even that “Shark Tank” guy from the ping-pong movie who got $15 million from Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX is building data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently stuck in parliamentary "ping-pong", where legislation moves between the Commons and Lords until agreement is reached on its final wording.

From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026

A game of energetic ping-pong unfolded underneath the gallery’s fluorescent light, beams of identification, recollections or stabs of grief bouncing off each piece in the exhibition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 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

Nico found himself in the rec room of the Big House, all the senior camp leaders gathered around the ping-pong table.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

He purchased a Ping-Pong table as his first piece of furniture.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2024

After concluding Ping-Pong night, Joe crashed on the couch in his living room, then woke for a fishing trip on the Sol Duc River outside of Forks — 160 miles away.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023

The favorite spot among players at the Ryder Cup is their team room, with its food and drinks, plenty of laughter, motivational moments and for the Americans, epic tales of Ping-Pong.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 27, 2023

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

This conversation has taken an unexpected turn, and my head is going back and forth like a Ping-Pong ball.

From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass