Word.ws English Dictionary

detailing

detailing noun: a thorough description or explanation. Also the present participle and gerund of detail.

Noun

detailing (countable and uncountable, plural detailings)

  1. A thorough description or explanation.
    • Less successful are the flotsam-y parts of the book — the arbitrary releases about Ebbesmeyer’s career struggles or the detailings of one too many garbage finds.2009 May 17, Paul Greenberg, “The Oceans’ Junkyards”, in New York Times
  2. An assignment to someone to undertake a particular task.
  3. An ornamentation or decoration on something that has been constructed.
    • a dress with elaborate neck detailings
    • Provided are matching satin ribbon detailings, topped with an embroidered floral bouquet in delicate contrasting shades.1979, the Consumers Union, Funerals: consumers' last rights, →ISBN
  4. A careful and thorough cleaning and refurbishing of an automobile, aircraft, boat, etc.

Also used as

detailing is also the present participle and gerund of detail.

Examples of detailing in a sentence

  • Terrific, new detailings including see-through full length walkway and platforms with special tank train end couplings1982, Railroad Model Craftsman - Volume 51, page 108:
  • In 1963, the Penrose owners traded up to a giant DeRaffele unsurpassed in exaggerated detailings, including a towering, steel A-frame entryway and crinkle-cut, folded-plate eaves.1999, Brian Butko, Kevin Joseph Patrick, Diners of Pennsylvania, →ISBN, page 36:
  • Early homes, such as Jacob Julian’s Second Empire–style mansion boasted a lot of Romantic influences with elaborate detailing.2008, Julie Young, “A Cornucopia of Design”, in Historic Irvington (Images of America), Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, page 45:
  • In the next few minutes, Molly tossed dress after dress aside, oohing and aahing at the varied fabrics, the elaborate detailing of each one, until she found a dress that was— / Breathtaking.2010, Kieran Kramer, chapter 7, in When Harry Met Molly, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 66:

All 24 example sentences with detailing

Forms of detailing

pluraldetailings

Words formed from detailing

Questions about detailing

What does detailing mean?
Detailing means a thorough description or explanation.
How do you use detailing in a sentence?
Terrific, new detailings including see-through full length walkway and platforms with special tank train end couplings
What part of speech is detailing?
Detailing is a noun.
What is the plural of detailing?
The plural of detailing is detailings.

Words near detailing in the dictionary

  1. detailee
  2. detailees
  3. detailer
  4. detailers
  5. detaileth
  6. detailing
  7. detailingly
  8. detailings
  9. detailist
  10. detailists
  11. detailless

Source and license

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