- 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.
-
(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:
It is the fasting warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
In late 2022, Elon Musk posted that he lost 30 pounds by fasting and taking semaglutide.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
People who lowered their protein intake lost weight and body fat and showed improvements in fasting blood sugar, despite often consuming more total calories.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 2, 2026
It is the fasting warming content, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
But his attitude toward me and fasting felt like, “I don’t understand why you would choose to starve yourself.”
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
The reason was, that for all his fastings and penances, he was a lazy Camel, and he wanted to graze without the trouble of walking about.
From The Talking Thrush and Other Tales from India by William Crooke
Little suspecting the frame of mind his communication is to find us in, and that, in place of doughty deeds and chivalrous exploits, our thoughts are turned to fastings, mortifications, and whipcord!
From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. II by Charles James Lever
God stands in no need of any external ceremonies of ours, our watchings, fastings, or cryings, to awaken him, who “neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.”
From True Christianity by Johann Arndt
For even if he thinks much of his own holy prayers and fastings in contrast to a poor sinner like me, yet he has not called me a brothelkeeper and archknave, as he has Christ.
From Works of Martin Luther With Introductions and Notes (Volume I) by Martin Luther
Much have I envied your Art, who vouchsafeth to those who adore her Visions of heavenly splendor denied to fastings and vigils.
From Poems by William Dean Howells
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.
