addressing

Syllables: ad·dress·ing/əˈdɹɛsɪŋ/

addressing is the present participle and gerund of address.

Noun

addressing (usually uncountable, plural addressings)

(usually) A process of putting a person's name and address on an item of mail
(usually) Any of several methods of locating and accessing information within storage
(usually) A mode, manner, or form of direct speech to an audience.
- Just as a social inferior should not adopt a domineering structure of words and addressings, so a social superior must manage to inject just the right degree of condescension into his or her locutions2010, R. S. Perinbanayagam, Discursive acts: language, signs, and selves, page 118

Meaning of address

Verb

address (third-person singular simple present addresses, present participle addressing, simple past and past participle addressed or (obsolete) addrest)

(intransitive, obsolete) To prepare oneself.
- Let us address to tend on Hector's heels.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(intransitive, obsolete) To direct speech.
- Young Turnus to the Beaubteous Maid addreſs’d.1697, Virgil, “Virgil’s Æneis, Book VII”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 402
(obsolete, transitive) To aim; to direct.
- And this good knight his way with me addrest.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
(obsolete, transitive) To prepare or make ready.
- His foe was soone addrest.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14
(reflexive, transitive) To prepare oneself; to apply one's skill or energies (to some object); to betake.
- These men addressed themselves to the task.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
(reflexive) To direct one’s remarks (to someone).
- In the Reign of King Charles the Second, a certain Worthy Divine at Whitehall, thus Address’d himself to the Auditory at the conclusion of his Sermon.1701, Thomas Brown, Laconics, or New Maxims of State and Conversation, London: Thomas Hodgson, section 76, p. 103

See all 29 meanings of address

Forms of addressing

plural	addressings

Words formed from addressing

Phrases with addressing

Words that rhyme with addressing

Questions about addressing

What does addressing mean?: Addressing means a process of putting a person's name and address on an item of mail.
What is addressing the present participle and gerund of?: Addressing is the present participle and gerund of address.
What part of speech is addressing?: Addressing is a noun.
How do you pronounce addressing?: Addressing is pronounced /əˈdɹɛsɪŋ/.
What is the plural of addressing?: The plural of addressing is addressings.

Words near addressing in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: addressing (page history and authors); address (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-addressing.ogg.

Cite this entry: “addressing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/addressing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.