planning
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of planning
Explanation
You can use the noun planning to talk about the process of making a plan. Your elaborate tree house project will require hours of planning before you hammer a single nail into a piece of wood. Planning is the act of getting ready for something to happen — you might find that the planning for the prom and the excitement it brings is as fun as the event itself. During planning for any event, you figure out what things you will need, how long it will take, and what you will do if anything goes wrong. For a cook, planning might include finding and measuring all ingredients, gathering the pots and pans they will need, even checking that the stove works!
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.
But for those at the heart of the club, the planning for next season will accelerate with almost immediate effect.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
Google is also planning to lay undersea telecom cables that will connect Visakhapatnam with other parts of Asia.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
“Choices like increasing contributions to Roth accounts reflect a focus on flexibility, tax efficiency and confidence in planning for the future.”
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
The talk, which was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, was postponed after the London museum was told a "significant proportion" of attendees were planning to cause disruption.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
“We came up with that last night when we were planning your day. I don’t remember if it was Paris or Rio who thought of it.”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
