fishing
Americannoun
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the act of catching fish.
Fishing is not allowed in this park.
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the technique, occupation, or diversion of catching fish.
A day at sea with Floyd has greatly improved my fishing.
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the conditions for catching fish.
The fishing is exceptionally good today.
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Archaic. a place or facility for catching fish.
noun
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the occupation of catching fish
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( as modifier )
a fishing match
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another word for piscary
Etymology
Origin of fishing
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English fisshing; see origin at fish, -ing 1
Vocabulary lists containing fishing
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.
For fishing communities in South America, there is the risk of smaller catches.
From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026
A jump in wheat shipments, much of which was destined for China, lifted exports of farm, fishing and intermediate food products 8.9% month-over-month.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
The end was drawing near in a nine-year fight for justice, in a case of modern slavery on a Scottish fishing trawler.
From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026
Within hours of carrying the first telegram across the English Channel in 1850, the earliest “submarine telegraph”—27 miles of copper wire wrapped in a rubbery substance called gutta percha—was broken by a fishing trawler.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
They were a good size—tilapia and other species I knew from the fishing work.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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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.