- present participle of etch.
etching
Americannoun
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etchings
plural
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the act or process of making designs or pictures on a metal plate, glass, etc., by the corrosive action of an acid instead of by a burin.
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an impression, as on paper, taken from an etched plate.
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the design so produced.
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a metal plate bearing such a design.
noun
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the art, act, or process of preparing etched surfaces or of printing designs from them
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an etched plate
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an impression made from an etched plate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of etching
Vocabulary lists containing etching
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 event includes Woman with an Arm Tattoo, an etching depicting Sue Tilley, and runs until 13 September.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Until now, most MXenes have been produced using chemical etching, a process that leaves a mix of surface atoms such as oxygen, fluorine, or chlorine scattered randomly across the material.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 4, 2026
The venture would also presumably need equipment for etching and deposition, which are manufacturing and packaging processes.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026
“By no means are we etching anything in stone, but putting a framework out there to guide the community,” said Jerry Chow, IBM’s chief technology officer of quantum-centric computing.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
A huge, black bird springs out; it perches on her bureau, looking just like the etching of the raven in Yo's first English poetry book.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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The etchings were all created using Blake's own "illuminated printing" technique.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
There’s a stunning group of watercolors, seemingly breathed onto the paper, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, fragile etchings by Whistler and dazzling, light-struck waterside scenes by Sargent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025
Paint and etchings, including two names - Shal and Noah - were left scrawled on the walls and floor of Robin’s Hood Cave on Stanage Edge, near Hope Valley.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2024
The famed surrealist Salvador Dalí is coming to Seattle — at least an intriguing series of his etchings is.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2024
My paper might as well have been covered in the etchings of an alien language, written left-handed while standing on my head.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.