- present participle of etch.
etching
Americannoun
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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 declines followed losses by major US semiconductor stocks, after a report said a company was making specialised ultraviolet etching machines to boost China's chip industry.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
A typical fab processes silicon wafers in batches, moving them together through different stages of printing and etching to build chips layer by layer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● 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
Their approach focuses on modifying the inside surface of aluminum tubes by etching it to create microscopic and nanoscale pits.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 30, 2026
“Think of the books Hugh Crain hacked apart to make this. Now here is a Goya etching; a horrible thing for a little girl to meditate upon.”
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
The etchings were all created using Blake's own "illuminated printing" technique.
From Barron's ● Nov. 18, 2025
The social and political turmoil of today resonates in a mammoth, extraordinary show of Francisco de Goya’s celebrated etchings at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 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
I stare at the scims in my hands, a matched set with intricate black etchings that probably have no equal in the Empire.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
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.
