greeting
Americannoun
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the act or words of a person who greets.
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a friendly message from someone who is absent.
a greeting from a friend in another country.
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greetings, an expression of friendly or respectful regard.
Send my greetings to your family.
noun
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the act or an instance of welcoming or saluting on meeting
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(often plural)
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an expression of friendly salutation
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( as modifier )
a greetings card
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of greeting
before 900; Middle English, Old English gretinge. See greet 1, -ing 1
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.
Come Sunday, Raman, wearing jeans and a chartreuse cardigan, was greeting bike riders at a Sawtelle coffee shop and speaking to a phone bank group at UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2026
He went from village to village to explain how the virus was spread by contact with bodily fluids and encourage people to stop things like greeting one another by shaking hands.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
The Chinese were careful to appeal to Trump's love of pomp, greeting him with marching bands, soldiers in lockstep and a cannon salute that echoed through Tiananmen Square.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
"The handshake evolved very slowly as a mode of greeting and had no bearing on hat-honor as a gesture of deference," he says.
From Science Daily • May 7, 2026
There were rapid footsteps on the linoleum and henlike clucks and cries of greeting.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
