greeting
Americannoun
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greetings
plural
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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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Videos of the encounter quickly spread online and on Spain’s front pages, leading the country’s foreign minister to defend the interaction as a greeting and “nothing more.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
There’s no such broader conversation greeting another Evil Dead sequel, even though moviegoers seem to like it.
From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026
Still, Story is greeting the new rules as "good controls".
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Eric … has never wavered in his commitment to covering up-and-coming athletes, greeting each day with seemingly endless energy and curiosity,” said Limón Romero.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Families have filled up the green picnic tables, and they nod or raise a hand in greeting.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
She remains awed that the show’s viewers — most of whom don’t agree with her politics — have acknowledged her personal milestones with warm greetings and homemade gifts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Over the following year, the two continued to exchange greetings, ideas and invitations.
From Salon ● May 19, 2026
As bells rang out across the Vatican and the crowd applauded, Leo concluded his blessing by offering Easter greetings in several languages, including Latin, Arabic and Chinese.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026
In the mornings, Christine eagerly awaits the brightly colored, highly vocal birds swooping into their garden, whooping their greetings before flying off into the junglelike foliage.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026
Here tens of thousands of Germans—perhaps as many as a hundred thousand by some estimates—lined the route, cheering and waving Olympic, Nazi, and occasionally American flags, shouting greetings in German and English.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
