- present participle of probe.
probing
Americanadjective
noun
-
probings
plural
-
the act or practice of examining, investigating, or exploring something in a deep or searching way.
Constant probing of the night sky by scientists reveals an abundance of activity within our solar system.
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the act of examining or exploring something by means of a probe or any of various instruments, devices, etc..
Probing of the blocked duct was done under anesthesia.
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Computers. the process of scanning a network, database, webpage, web app, etc., in order to obtain information about its structure and any security weaknesses that could be used to launch an attack: undertaken either maliciously by hostile parties, or diagnostically and preventively by those wishing to improve security.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of probing
First recorded in 1660–70; 2000–05 gauging for def. 3; probe ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective sense; probe ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun senses
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 documentary angle, of course, is this great director probing the ethics in his own vocation as an intrusive force, one that shapes lives, emotions and, in this case, the weight of a genuine tragedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
Yet Wedgewood also lied to media outlets that did ask probing questions about its methods, so that explanation is hard to take at face value.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2026
His probing has ensured Australia have not missed spinner Nathan Lyon, who he replaced, or Josh Hazlewood, who remained at the team hotel throughout the day because of illness.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
As Hanns-Christoph Nägerl says: "The discovery of fractional Fermi seas shows how far we can push quantum simulation: not only reproducing known models, but creating and probing states that go beyond established paradigms."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
Slowly, very slowly, he inched the binoculars along the trees, probing among the lower-down rocks, finding nothing.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Patients have turned to him after watching graphic videos of his healing rituals, which include nasal probings, body incisions and eye scrapings.
From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2018
The probings about driver versus three-wood had lost steam.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2015
His finding echoes the results of similar probings by other researchers into the 2008 statistics.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 26, 2012
Matters of marriage, sex, science and womanhood are raised by Ruhl, a continually inventive playwright whose lyrical sense of the absurd is as acute as her insightful probings into the psyches of her quirky characters.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2011
"Yes, Paul," she repeated as before, and a few more probings on my part convinced me that she remembered nothing at all.
From Jacqueline of Golden River by Ralph P. (Ralph Pallen) Coleman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
