Showing results for "fencing"

• present participle of fence.

fencing

American  

[fen-sing] / ˈfɛn sɪŋ /

noun

• fencings
  plural

1. the art, practice, or sport in which an épée, foil, or saber is used for defense and attack.

2. a parrying of arguments; avoidance of direct answers.

   political fencing on important issues.

3. an enclosure or railing.

4. fences collectively.

5. material for fences.

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fencing British  

/ ˈfɛnsɪŋ /

noun

1. the practice, art, or sport of fighting with swords, esp the sport of using foils, épées, or sabres under a set of rules to score points

2. 1. wire, stakes, etc, used as fences

   2. fences collectively

3. skilful or witty debate

4. the avoidance of direct answers; evasiveness

5. slang the business of buying and selling stolen property

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fencings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fencing

1425–75; late Middle English fensing safeguarding, maintenance. See fence, -ing ¹

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Explanation

Fencing is a structure that encloses a yard or area, like the fencing that keeps your dog confined. Another kind of fencing is a sport with long pointy foils that has been popular with Hamlet, Holden Caulfield, and lots of other fancy kids. You might buy enough fencing to close in your whole back yard — it could be made of wood, metal, or even plastic, and this material can also be called fencing. A completely different kind of fencing is the sport that involves combat with sword-like weapons. Fencing started as military training and a way of settling disputes, but it grew into a sport during the 18th century, and is now even included in the Olympics.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fencing fencings

Picard is a man given to philosophical debates and genteel pursuits like horseback riding and fencing.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

Mannon's 300 cattle survived the blaze - but the fencing needed to be replaced, and the herd still needed to be fed.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

ZVERNEC, Albania—On the doorstep of a Jared Kushner-linked development site on the Adriatic Sea, a group of determined villagers set out in late May to protest barbed-wire fencing preventing their access to a coastal peninsula.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Olympic trials and was recruited to Northwestern University’s Division I fencing team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

My new school was a few blocks down the congested avenue, through a gate into a cracked cement yard ringed with hurricane fencing.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

A great new boon to the home gardener they are, these wire fencings and nettings.

From The Amateur Garden by George Washington Cable

Ha! ha! my dearest," thought he, "I knew, notwithstanding all your beautiful startings and fencings, that matters would come to this.

From The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three by William Carleton

The air, which had before been charged with little suspicions, toy fencings, as it were, between people of no great importance, was now informed with something more pressing, more imminent, more real.

From A Butterfly on the Wheel by Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull

Which infinitely quickens the shadowy rumorings and Diplomatic fencings of mankind.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 11 by Thomas Carlyle

Preventive fencings with the foul intent Occult, by him observed and foiled betimes, Let fool historians chronicle as crimes.

From Poems — Volume 3 by George Meredith

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