Word.ws English Dictionary

beating around the bush

beating around the bush is the present participle and gerund of beat around the bush.

Meaning of beat around the bush

Verb

beat around the bush (third-person singular simple present beats around the bush, present participle beating around the bush, simple past beat around the bush or (nonstandard) beated around the bush, past participle beaten around the bush or (colloquial) beat around the bush or (nonstandard) beated around the bush)

  1. (idiomatic) To treat a topic, but omit its main points, often intentionally.
  2. (idiomatic) To delay or avoid talking about something difficult or unpleasant.
    • Just stop beating around the bush and tell me what the problem is!

Questions about beating around the bush

What is beating around the bush the present participle and gerund of?
Beating around the bush is the present participle and gerund of beat around the bush.

Words near beating around the bush in the dictionary

  1. beating
  2. beating a hasty retreat
  3. beating about
  4. beating about the bush
  5. beating all
  6. beating around the bush
  7. beating as one
  8. beating back
  9. beating Banaghan
  10. beating down
  11. beating feet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beating around the bush (page history and authors); beat around the bush (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.

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