- present participle of part.
parting
Americannoun
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the act of a person or thing that parts.
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a division or separation.
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a place of division or separation.
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a departure or leave-taking.
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something that serves to part or separate things.
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Mineralogy. a fracture of a crystal along a plane determined by twinning or pressure rather than along a cleavage plane.
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Metallurgy. parting line.
adjective
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given, happening, taken, done, etc., at parting.
a parting glance.
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of or relating to parting, leave-taking, departure, or death.
parting words.
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ending or taking leave.
the parting day.
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dividing or separating.
noun
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US, Canadian, and Austral equivalent: part. the line of scalp showing when sections of hair are combed in opposite directions
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the act of separating or the state of being separated
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a departure or leave-taking, esp one causing a final separation
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( as modifier )
a parting embrace
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a place or line of separation or division
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chem a division of a crystal along a plane that is not a cleavage plane
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a euphemism for death
adjective
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literary departing
the parting day
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serving to divide or separate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of parting
1250–1300; Middle English partyng (gerund). See part, -ing 1, -ing 2
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:
Given his past behavior, he sounds like the type of guy to leave a curveball in his will, as a parting shot.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
After parting ways with Wilde, I drove 50 miles to meet Steven Weinberg, an artist and the author of “The Fly Fishing Book,” a whimsically illustrated guide to the sport.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
When Tracy was let go at the end of the season, the team called it a “mutual parting of ways.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Hollywood star Josh Duhamel appears to be parting ways with his life in Los Angeles and dedicating himself to living full-time at his off-grid Minnesota cabin after listing his longtime California home for $2.99 million.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Anya could see the autumn air parting as the weaponized whistle rocketed toward them.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
I now hope that cross-species friendships of such intensity do not end in permanent partings.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 4, 2022
In what has to be one of the most inevitable partings of the Premier League era, Steve Bruce lasted just 13 days after the Saudi Arabian-backed £305m takeover of the club.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2021
Its story, held between the arbitrary-seeming brackets of electoral victory and pop-star overdose, is inchoate, and beguilingly so: a series of meetings and partings, a fluctuation of perceptions, emotions, and desires.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 24, 2018
Ms. Hardy is well-versed in singing about partings and beginnings.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2018
He had suddenly realized that flying from the Shire would mean more painful partings than merely saying farewell to the familiar comforts of Bag End.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
