shipping

¹ American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

1. the act or business of a person or thing that ships.

2. a number of ships, especially merchant ships, taken as a whole; tonnage.

3. Obsolete. a voyage.

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shipping ² American  

[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

Slang.

1. the act or practice of discussing, writing about, or hoping for a romantic relationship between fictional characters, as in fan fiction, or between famous people, whether or not the romance actually exists in the book, show, etc., or in real life.

   the shipping of TV characters;

   shipping in webcomics.

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shipping British  

/ ˈʃɪpɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. the business of transporting freight, esp by ship

   2. ( as modifier )

      a shipping magnate

      shipping line

2. 1. ships collectively

      there is a lot of shipping in the Channel

   2. the tonnage of a number of ships

      shipping for this year exceeded that of last

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Usage

What else does shipping mean? Shipping is the act of wanting two or more fictional characters or celebrities to end up in a relationship, usually romantic.

Other Word Forms

• nonshipping
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of shipping¹

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at ship ¹, -ing ¹

Origin of shipping²

First recorded in 1990–95; (relation)ship + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shipping

Barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells and cable machines are all part of the strength training Antonia offers in her gym space, located in a shipping container.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

Infrastructure and shipping constraints limit how easily fuel can move within the U.S. itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Taiwan risk therefore runs through two enormous arteries of the global economy: semiconductors and shipping.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

It was founded in 1978 by Steven Loui, a talented engineer and scion of a powerful Hawaiian shipping family.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

Next they sent a check to the company who had been shipping the fresh fish all the way from the coast.

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater

Related Words

• freight
• ship