parting
Americannoun
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partings
plural
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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:
The conclusion was to banish Hesmondhalgh, who, in her parting words, said it had been an "immense experience".
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Fox announced last month that it was parting ways with Bartiromo after more than 12 years.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
Instead, Iamaleava is remembered for his tumultuous exit from Knoxville, a parting characterized by head coach Josh Heupel that the program would move on without its starting signal-caller, leading the Long Beach product to UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
“She’s All That” star Tamara Mello and her husband, Emmy Award-winning TV editor Paolo Cascardo, are parting ways with their thoughtfully restored Los Angeles home—as they prepare to relocate across the country to Florida.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
The illicit payoffs were as yet unknown to the public, and as the barons moved toward the front of the Million Dollar Elm, they were treated as princes of capitalism, the crowd parting before them.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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No matter how long a driver and race engineer have worked together, and how close they become, those partings of ways are inevitable in Formula 1.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2024
I now hope that cross-species friendships of such intensity do not end in permanent partings.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 4, 2022
Wide-leg trousers, berets, high necklines and centre partings.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 8, 2019
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
The neat partings in their hair, the clicks of their heels, the confident swagger they had.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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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.