- present participle of hear.
hearing
Americannoun
-
hearings
plural
-
the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived.
-
the act of perceiving sound.
-
opportunity to be heard.
to grant a hearing.
-
an instance or a session in which testimony and arguments are presented, especially before an official, as a judge in a lawsuit.
- Synonyms:
- consultation, conference, audience
-
a preliminary examination of the basic evidence and charges by a magistrate to determine whether criminal procedures, a trial, etc., are justified.
-
earshot.
Their conversation was beyond my hearing.
noun
-
the faculty or sense by which sound is perceived
-
an opportunity to be listened to
-
the range within which sound can be heard; earshot
-
the investigation of a matter by a court of law, esp the preliminary inquiry into an indictable crime by magistrates
-
a formal or official trial of an action or lawsuit
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hearing
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at hear, -ing 1
Explanation
Hearing is the sense that allows you to distinguish sounds with your ears. Dogs have a particularly acute sense of hearing, and they can hear sounds pitched too high for humans to hear. You use your hearing when you attend a concert, listen to an audio book, or talk to a friend on the phone. Another kind of hearing is a legal process at which people state a case in front of a judge, so she can decide whether or not it should be presented at a trial with a jury. This kind of hearing gets its name from the idea that the court is "listening" to the evidence.
Vocabulary lists containing hearing
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:
In September 2026, the FDA took another step toward evaluating psychedelic treatments by organizing a public hearing titled "Considerations for Potential Future Therapeutic Use of Psychedelic Drugs."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2026
In documents submitted to the court for the hearing prosecutors also said it was "plainly incorrect" to say there had been a decision not to investigate.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
“You’re probably going to be hearing me say that a lot, whether it’s on energy, whether it’s on revenue tax policy, whether it’s on healthcare,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
As the seconds passed, his hearing started to come back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Believers found themselves distraught at the thought of never hearing from their loved ones again.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
She was instead elected to the Senate in 2012 and in hearings has regularly grilled bankers and executives over the years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
“They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing,” Edward Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, wrote on X on Tuesday about potential hearings for technology executives.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
In July, hearings related to more than 2,000 of those cases were postponed until later this year.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
Countless mobile phone videos have recorded such arrests in places previously considered off-limits: parents detained outside schoolyards, at bus stops, youth sporting events and even inside courthouses at pre-arranged immigration hearings.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
During Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings, my French teacher would often single me out, saying, "You Americans, you're all such puritans."
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
