flagging
1 Americannoun
-
flagstones collectively.
-
a pavement or walk of flagstones.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flagging1
First recorded in 1535–45; flag 3 + -ing 2
Origin of flagging2
Explanation
If something is flagging, it's worn out or weak. A flagging political campaign is running out of steam, losing the energy it needs to be successful. If your career is flagging, it's languishing or fading — you might need to go back to school and start a new one. Flagging public support for a new school might spell the end of the project. A different kind of flagging is the sort you walk on. If your patio is made of flagging, it's paved in stones — flagstones, to be specific. The "weakened" meaning of flagging comes from an early meaning of flag, "to flap about loosely."
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.
The audio showed that a number of other possible fouls had been considered, including Leandro Trossard on Pablo, with the VAR team flagging them to the referee.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
The Japanese automaker’s profitability declined across all major markets in the year ended March, he says, flagging an urgent need for Toyota to optimize costs.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
Techniques such as “receiver operating characteristic curve analysis” examine how changing the threshold for an alert alters the balance between correctly identifying real events and mistakenly flagging harmless ones.
From Salon • May 12, 2026
The expansion of the detection tool follows complaints from high-profile Americans about YouTube's cumbersome process for flagging and removing deepfakes from the platform –- especially as AI accelerates the creation of fabricated content.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
They were flagging in the rays of the bright sun, winter sun shining in a pale cool sky though it was; their heads were down and their tongues lolling out.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
