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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:

I just do a little bit of tai chi and I play ping-pong with my wife.

From The Wall Street Journal May 4, 2026

A game of energetic ping-pong unfolded underneath the gallery’s fluorescent light, beams of identification, recollections or stabs of grief bouncing off each piece in the exhibition.

From Los Angeles Times Apr. 17, 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

Clarisse pounded the ping-pong table, which made everyone flinch.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

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

From Los Angeles Times May 12, 2024

The night before he had hosted friends for a Ping-Pong tournament in the basement of his north Tacoma home.

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

He saw as many hockey games as he could, was an active tennis player, skied, swam, and belonged to a Ping-Pong club in Manhattan.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

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