Showing results for "pacing"

• present participle of pace.

pacing

American  

[pay-sing] / ˈpeɪ sɪŋ /

noun

• pacings
  plural

1. the act or result of setting the rate of movement or progress, as of a story, movie, lesson, etc..

   The pacing of a video presentation must be appropriate; too slow is just as common (and as bad) as too fast.

2. the act of walking back and forth, as to expend nervous energy.

   For several minutes after she entered, he continued his restless pacing to and fro as if unaware of her presence.

3. the act of walking with slow, regular steps.

   Above my head, at intervals, I heard the pacing of the sentry upon the roof.

4. the act or process of measuring something by counting the steps taken to walk its length at a normal stride.

   Though surveyors find it a quick and easy way to measure distance in the field, accurate pacing can only be accomplished by practice.

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adjective

1. walking back and forth, as to expend nervous energy.

   I tried to focus my attention on anything but the rapidly pacing detective, who was deep in thought.

2. walking with slow, regular steps.

   Seeing the pacing security guard in front of the sliding doors, she looked around quickly for another way out.

3. (of a horse or other animal) moving in such a way that the feet on the same side are lifted and put down together.

   A pacing horse will swing its head from side to side as opposed to up and down.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pacings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pacing

First recorded in 1450–1500; pac(e) ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun senses; pac(e) ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pacing pacings

An eyewitness described seeing him wearing headphones and "pacing around" near the enclosure before he went in and was attacked.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI and Google have encouraged "pacing" - or slowing down - development after models created by all three were found to have escaped their testing environments or taken actions without authorization.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

That pattern suggests pacing may have been more strongly connected to familiar daily routines and the expectation of feeding than to hunger itself.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

There’s been some discourse about the art of the slow burn and how the pacing has changed in an era of short episode orders and unpredictable renewals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

I’m still pacing when the elevator opens up to the youth dormitories.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

Much of Mr. Roberts’s movement for that quartet of dancers, despite some upper-body torsioning and unison pacings, presents repeated articulations for their arms, suggesting the flapping of wings, which grows monotonous.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025

The rising United Kingdom-based bandleader Nala Sinephro plays harp and electronics, with a pull toward weightless sounds and meditative pacings, so comparisons to Alice Coltrane are inevitable.

From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2021

In the 20th century, technology made it ever easier to regulate the production of sound, with electronic music allowing for perfectly even pacings.

From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2017

Once, in the midst of his pacings, he fell right off his platform.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jack O’Shaughnessy stopped short in his pacings up and down, and stood staring before him with a strange, rapt expression.

From More about Pixie by William H. C. Groome

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