probing
Americanadjective
noun
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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:
An adviser’s recommendations may not always be pleasing to hear, but they flow from a more complete understanding of a client’s situation based on detailed fact-finding, probing and insight into the client’s needs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Meanwhile, U.S. regulators began probing short sellers’ trading tactics, culminating in a securities-fraud conviction for Left last month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Binance runs crypto exchanges and provides other services around the world, but it took a severe hit when crypto markets collapsed in 2022 and regulators began probing the legality of its business.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
O’Herlihy was intellectually hungry — always probing new territory, questioning why things had to be a certain way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
The GAC spent the morning probing the views of the military.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The probings about driver versus three-wood had lost steam.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2015
So were his probings of the court records for murder cases against Jeffrey MacDonald, in his 2012 book “A Wilderness of Error,” and Randall Adams, in the 1988 film “The Thin Blue Line.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2014
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
Their theme was our battery drill of some ten days before, a subject urged upon Flora by the mosquito-like probings of Madame's musically whined queries.
From Kincaid's Battery by Kimball, Alonzo
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.
