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  • ping-pong
    ping-pong
    verb (used with object)
    to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.
  • Ping-Pong
    Ping-Pong

ping-pong

1 American  
[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /

verb (used with object)

  1. to move back and forth or transfer rapidly from one locale, job, etc., to another; switch.

    The patient was ping-ponged from one medical specialist to another.


verb (used without object)

  1. to go back and forth; change rapidly or regularly; shift; bounce.

    For ten years the foreign correspondent ping-ponged between London and Paris.

Ping-Pong 2 American  
[ping-pong, -pawng] / ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ, -ˌpɔŋ /
Trademark.
  1. table tennis.


Ping-Pong British  
/ ˈpɪŋˌpɒŋ /

noun

  1. Also called: ping pong. another name for table tennis

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ping-pong

First recorded in 1900–05


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:

Even that “Shark Tank” guy from the ping-pong movie who got $15 million from Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX is building data centers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

“Most engineers want to do the 1:00 to 3:45 with a ping-pong break and an hour lunch. That’s the way the Valley worked,” McCardel said.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 4, 2026

The bill is currently at the stage of its parliamentary journey known as "ping-pong", where legislation moves between the Commons and Lords until agreement is reached on its final wording.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Timothee Chalamet had long appeared a lock for his pushy 1950s ping-pong player in "Marty Supreme."

From Barron's ● Mar. 15, 2026

‘Now place the ping-pong table on top of the four grandfather clocks,’ Mr Tibbs whispered.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

He purchased a Ping-Pong table as his first piece of furniture.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2024

The Ping-Pong table was surrounded by silent reminders of a singular college career — purple helmets, signed footballs, All-Pac-10 plaques, framed articles from Sports Illustrated and The Seattle Times featuring delightfully hackneyed headlines:

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023

The favorite spot among players at the Ryder Cup is their team room, with its food and drinks, plenty of laughter, motivational moments and for the Americans, epic tales of Ping-Pong.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 27, 2023

From the control room next door, the animals show up as dots on the computer monitors, looking like remote-control Ping-Pong balls zinging around the room and occasionally coming to rest in odd corners.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 16, 2023

We went to a playground which sported a basketball court, a football field and Ping-Pong tables under awnings.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

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