- present participle of skim.
skimming
Americannoun
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Usually skimmings. floating matter that is removed from the surface of a liquid.
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Metallurgy. skimmings, dross.
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Slang. the practice of concealing gambling or other profits so as to avoid paying taxes, commissions, etc..
An audit of their cleaning business uncovered several years of skimming.
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the practice of electronically appropriating account numbers or other confidential data for illegal use.
A chip is embedded in the credit card to prevent skimming.
Etymology
Origin of skimming
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English skemmyng; see skim, -ing 1
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.
Michael Jackson showed off his signature move, the moonwalk, on television in 1983, skimming backwards across the stage to his No. 1 hit “Billie Jean.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
The shimmering and pellucid choreographic poem presents its central woman as if arriving on a breeze by way of skimming steps on pointe and ultimately exiting as breezily as she arrived.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
But that is still only skimming the surface.
From BBC • Aug. 20, 2025
Instead of casually wading into the shallow end, skimming the surface with tepid bits of history about Mansfield’s life and career, Hargitay opts for a cannonball.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 2025
I imagine my mother and father sitting beside a fountain, under the spray of water, their feet skimming the concrete bottom.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
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.
