- present participle of fast.
fasting
Americannoun
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fastings
plural
adjective
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abstaining from eating or drinking, from certain foods or drinks, or from a particular habitual activity for a period.
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(of a blood sugar test or its result) using or based on blood taken from a person after they have abstained from eating for a prescribed period.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Explanation
Fasting is going for a certain length of time without eating anything. Sometimes fasting is required before you have surgery, like getting your wisdom teeth removed. Often fasting is done for medical or health reasons, or in an attempt to lose weight. For many other people, fasting is an important part of their religious observance. Fasting is done by Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Jews, among other groups. Fasting comes from fast, which in turn has an Old English root, fæsten, "voluntary abstinence from food or drink, especially as a religious duty."
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:
In late 2022, Elon Musk posted that he lost 30 pounds by fasting and taking semaglutide.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
But not all obesity specialists are persuaded that fasting is the right approach for children.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
India's activist Sonam Wangchuk has ended a hunger strike after 26 days of fasting in support of youth-led protesters demanding education reforms.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The early fasting group followed an eight hour window beginning before 10:00 a.m.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026
He said fasting messed up his carefully balanced diet of simply grilled chicken breasts and staring at his abs in the mirror.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
He is worn out with long fastings and continued abstinence and prayer.
From A Search For A Secret (Vol 3 of 3) A Novel by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty
It has its prophet or Messiah who was exposed to a tempter,** and overcame all evil; its fastings and prayers; its miracles and its visions.
From Men, Women, and Gods And Other Lectures by Helen H. (Helen Hamilton) Gardener
Some of them wore chains, and were ruining their health with over-watchings and fastings.
From Brother Francis Less than the least by Eileen Douglas
And shall not my fastings, vigils, disciplines, prayers be as effectual for their souls?
From Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family by Elizabeth Rundle Charles
In speaking of himself, he says he was “in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often.”
From The Gospel Day Or, the Light of Christianity by Charles Ebert Orr
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.
