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
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.
They were probing but they lacked ideas and didn't look like they were going to score.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
Trump told reporters that the suspect, who was detained at the scene, was a California resident and law enforcement agents were probing his home.
From Barron's • Apr. 26, 2026
"When you're probing something new, you don't have a lot of data to train AI," Nemenman explains.
From Science Daily • Apr. 23, 2026
Gavalas asked Gemini to explain how it works, and began probing for ways to bypass the bot’s safeguards.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
When elephants walk through the cave at night, they navigate by their sense of touch, probing the floor ahead of them with the tips of their trunks.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
