- 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:
She said she’ll be tracking a hearing on Monday run by the House Budget Committee that looks at the need for a fiscal commission.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 20, 2026
A 22-year-old in Massachusetts reported having his account locked and not hearing back after dozens of attempts to reach Polymarket employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
In August, hundreds showed up to defend California’s authority to govern its own coast at a Santa Monica hearing of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and 18,000 more people filed comments online.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The next court hearing is scheduled for 29 September at Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
On hearing his call for help, they started hissing and honking.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Take a scroll through Instagram and TikTok, and you’ll see fan edit-style videos of Ossoff at campaign rallies and in Senate hearings.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Many Romanians involved in the crimes are in the U.S. illegally, authorities say, having overstayed visas, failed to show for asylum hearings or sneaked over the border.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Those in-ear monitors that the actors are wearing feed them edited clips from the real audio of the hearings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The 81-year-old had appeared by video link when he was first brought to the court in The Hague, but had since skipped hearings, with his defence team saying he was too ill.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
To Scruggs’s intense disappointment, the hearings didn’t result in any significant changes in the VA’s care.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
