pong
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pongsimple
-
pongssimple
-
have pongedperfect
-
has pongedperfect
-
am pongingprogressive
-
are pongingprogressive
-
is pongingprogressive
-
have been pongingperfect progressive
-
has been pongingperfect progressive
Past
-
pongedsimple
-
had pongedperfect
-
was pongingprogressive
-
were pongingprogressive
-
had been pongingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pong
First recorded in 1915–20; of obscure origin
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:
“Then you’d react to that and then you have the ping pong back and forth. It made it very vibrant and fun.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Chalamet’s marketing deck is full of outrageous, sky-high ideas, like an orange blimp that drops ping pong balls as it sails over Los Angeles.
From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2025
Rachel’s egg becomes the moon; the moon becomes a ping pong ball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
Conservative peer Lord Sharpe, the shadow business and trade minister, had tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill during its latest stage of parliamentary ping pong in the House of Lords.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025
I’ll hear the pong of tennis balls, the bark of goldens, the echo of my breath in a snorkel.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
The next volley pongs off my racket and lands just in front of the base of the glass wall, making it difficult for my opponent to return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2025
“It typically ping pongs back and forth, in general, from one to neutral to the other and back,” Weather Service meteorologist Dave Groenert told McClatchy News.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2023
Give the gift of pongs and chows, only with pangolins, sea nettles and Mandarin ducks.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2020
"Ping has been ponged" said one long standing Lords watcher - a reference to what is known as 'ping pong' when a bill is repeatedly sent from the Commons to the Lords and back again.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2023
“They’ve kind of been ping ponging responsibilities back and forth, but we haven’t been able to get any real information,” said Manteca.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 18, 2023
And they do not yet think it has reached its "ponging peak", but said that should be "any time soon".
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2022
And that’s how the interview continued: me pinging a question to Janet, she ponging it to Jackson, he pinging it back to the microphone.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 4, 2016
More mindless pinging and ponging, and what happens?
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2010
I can hear the ponging of jugs—and he hurls up a couple of them up.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
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.
