gong

American  

[gawng, gong] / gɔŋ, gɒŋ /

noun

• gongs
  plural

1. a large bronze disk, of Asian origin, having an upturned rim, that produces a vibrant, hollow tone when struck, usually with a stick or hammer that has a padded head.

2. a shallow bell sounded by a hammer operated electrically or mechanically.

   The fire-alarm system will automatically sound the gong.

3. (in a clock or watch) a rod or wire, either straight or bent into a spiral, on which the time is struck.

4. British Slang. a medal or military decoration.

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verb (used without object)

• gongs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• gonged,
  past participle,  past
• gonging
  present participle

1. to sound as a gong does; ring, chime, or reverberate.

gong British  

/ ɡɒŋ /

noun

1. Also called: tam-tam. a percussion instrument of indefinite pitch, consisting of a metal platelike disc struck with a soft-headed drumstick

2. a rimmed metal disc, hollow metal hemisphere, or metal strip, tube, or wire that produces a note when struck. It may be used to give alarm signals when operated electromagnetically

3. a fixed saucer-shaped bell, as on an alarm clock, struck by a mechanically operated hammer

4. slang a medal, esp a military one

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verb

1. (intr) to sound a gong

2. (tr) (of traffic police) to summon (a driver) to stop by sounding a gong

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gonglike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gongs
  plural

Participles

• gonging
  present
• gonged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• gong
  simple
• gongs
  simple
• have gonged
  perfect
• has gonged
  perfect
• am gonging
  progressive
• are gonging
  progressive
• is gonging
  progressive
• have been gonging
  perfect progressive
• has been gonging
  perfect progressive

Past

• gonged
  simple
• had gonged
  perfect
• was gonging
  progressive
• were gonging
  progressive
• had been gonging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will gong
  simple
• will have gonged
  perfect
• will be gonging
  progressive
• will have been gonging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of gong

1800–10; < Malay, Javanese: any suspended bossed and rimmed gong; presumably imitative

Explanation

A gong is a large percussion instrument that you play by hitting it with a mallet. Gongs make a resonant, echoing sound. In the classic game show "The Gong Show," amateur performers tried to impress judges who could end the act by banging a giant gong. There are two types of gongs: one that makes a loud, crashing sound, and another that is actually tuned to a specific note. The crashing gong is sometimes also called a tam-tam. The oldest gongs were played in the early Han Dynasty in China, and gongs continue to be common in religious and secular Chinese music. Gong, named for the sound of a gong, comes from Malay.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gong gongs gonged gonging

Solomon will go up against the Geordie duo for this year's gong as well as Sir David Attenborough in his 100th birthday year, Traitors and chat show host Claudia Winkleman and Alison Hammond.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

A gong and hammer function as a doorbell.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

There is even a gong, which is used to celebrate business milestones, new funding rounds or anything else worth marking with a ceremonial bang.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

The band's Noel Gallagher was in attendance to collect the gong for songwriter of the year.

From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026

Beside him on a table was a small Oriental gong and a bowl of cigarettes.

From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

More than 1,150 people received gongs in the latest list, which is decided by an honours committee.

From Barron's ● Dec. 29, 2025

Combined with the coloured, shimmering floor and walls, and a soundtrack of muffled voices, gongs and bird calls, it all creates a powerful if unnerving feeling of floating in another realm.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2025

The disaster-struck duo's latest outing, Vengeance Most Fowl, scooped two gongs at the Baftas on Sunday.

From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2025

“Election Night” was free of blingy graphics, screeching chyrons and doom-soaked gongs and bells at the top of each hour.

From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2024

But most of all there were bells: big brass bells, old tarnished handbells, little jingling bells on silver chains, with a few gongs and chimes hanging amidst the rest.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

Those who weren’t gonged were rated by the judges on a 1-to-10 scale.

From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2017

But the critics have also been saying that, as a unit, the Beach Boys are singing well, and not fit to be gonged just yet.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 12, 2012

The weather had begun to seep through our Polartec defenses, numbing our joints; water and pen ink were solids; cheese sticks gonged against canteens.

From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2012

Meanwhile, as a standup, he was being gonged off stage at have-a-go comedy nights before he'd said a word – for looking young and wearing silly jumpers.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 14, 2011

The metal trash can gonged as he spat the gum inside.

From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore

At one point, in a truly shameless bid for self-referential humor, Sierra is disrupted in bed by the gonging tu-dum of the Netflix logo and an ad for another Netflix holiday movie.

From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2022

We rode through a forest that smelled like sage and pine, the cowbells still gonging their ancient melody ahead of us.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2019

A languid, sometimes portentous composition, the sequence of scraping, clanging, creaking, gonging sounds is as aurally prismatic as the colors are visually.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2018

Because I need those seven hours of gonging around.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2012

The clicking of gears that she had felt almost her whole life was now more like the gonging of a bell.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill