gong
/ɡɒŋ/US/ɡɔŋ/
gong noun: a percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
Noun (1)
gong (plural gongs)
- A percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
- All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over my head.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 110
- A medal or award, particularly Knight Bachelor.
- This grooming of the national mindset explains the retention of 92 "hereditary peers" in the House of Lords: individuals who are gifted a right to sit in the nation's upper chamber and facilitate laws for no other reason than that their ancestor was the illegitimate child of some prince, or willing...2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 114
- A metal target that emits a sound when it has been hit.
- Weems picked up the hammer and hit the gong so hard that it spun right around on its hanger and fell off.1986, Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic, published 2022, page 184
Verb
gong (third-person singular simple present gongs, present participle gonging, simple past and past participle gonged)
- To make the sound of a gong; to ring a gong.
- Poor old Pyecraft! He has just gonged, no doubt to order another buttered tea-cake!1903, H. G. Wells, The Truth About Pyecraft
- To halt (originally, a contestant in a talent show; later, a performer, a speaker).
- As she was gonged, host Daryl Somers swept rapidly across and salvaged an embarrassing situation by putting his arm around her and asking her whether she had children.1996, Stephanie Holt, Maryanne Lynch, Motherlode
- To warn.
- The driver gonged the pedestrian crossing the tracks, but the pedestrian didn't stop.
- To give an award or medal to.
- In 1972 he was awarded the British Red Cross Silver Medal for his services to the Red Cross. In 1978 he was 'gonged' once again, this time with the Queen's Jubilee Medal, marking the 25th year of her reign.1997, Peter Stone, The Lady and the President, page 147
Noun (2)
gong (plural gongs)
- An outhouse: an outbuilding used as a lavatory.
- The Iewe of Tewkysbury which fell into a Gonge vpon the Satyrday.a. 1513, Robert Fabyan, New Cronycles of Englande and of Fraunce, volume II, page xxxii
- A stately Toye, a preciows peece of pellfe,
A gorgeous gong, a worthles painted wall...a. 1577, George Gascoigne, Grief of Joye, Vol. II, § lxii
- The contents of an outhouse pit: shit.
Noun (3)
gong (uncountable)
- A kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than qi.
- An advanced practice that cultivates such energy.
Proper noun capitalized: Gong
the Gong
gong meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
gong in Hindi
- percussion instrument
- घंटा ghaṇṭā
gong in Tamil
- சேவண்டி
gong in Marathi
- गोंग
gong in Urdu
- gong
- ناقوس nāqūs
More languagesFewer languages
- gong in Bengali
- গং, গঙ
- gong in Telugu
- జేగంట jēgaṇṭa
- gong in Malayalam
- ചേങ്കല, മുട്ടുമണി, മണിയുടെ നാവ്
- gong in Kannada
- ಜಾಗಟೆ, ಕಂಸಾಳ, ಬಟ್ಟಲು ಗಂಟೆ, ಬೋಗುಣಿ ಗಂಟೆ
- gong in Punjabi
- ਘੜਿਆਲ ghaṛiāla
- gong in Gujarati
- ગોંગ, ગોન્ગ
- gong in Odia
- ଘଣ୍ଟ ghaṇṭa, ଘଡ଼ି ghaṛi, ଘନ ghana
- gong in Assamese
- কাঁহ kãh
- gong in Nepali
- गोङ, गोंग
- gong in Arabic
- جَرَس jaras, نَاقُوس nāqūs
- gong in Malay
- gong
- gong in Indonesian
- gong
- gong in Thai
- ฆ้อง kɔ́ɔng
- gong in Vietnamese
- cồng chiêng, cồng
Examples of gong in a sentence
- Last night, we all went drinking, and the whole thing turned into a total gong show.
- That biology class was a gong show.
- The dinner gong rang clangingly throughout the house.
Synonyms of gong
Forms of gong
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gongs |
| alternative form | gang |
| alternative form | gonge |
| alternative form | goonge |
| alternative form | goung |
| alternative form | gounge |
| alternative form | gung |
| alternative form | gunge |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gongs |
| present participle | gonging |
| past participle | gonged |
| past | gonged |
Origin of gong
Borrowed from Malay gong (possibly onomatopoeic).
From Middle English gong, from Old English gong, where it was originally a variant of the noun gang (“a going, walk, journey, way, etc.”), derived from the verb gangan (“to go, walk, travel”), whose relation to go in Proto-Germanic remains unclear. Doublet of gang.
From Mandarin 功 (gōng, “merit; achievement”).
Words formed from gong
- gong bath
- gonglike
- gongman
- gong show
- gongster
- nipple gong
- slit-gong
- sprinkler gong
- gong farmer
- gong-farmer
- gong-fayer
- gong-fower
- gong-hole
- gong-house
- gong-man
- gongpit
- gong-pit
- gong scourer
- gong-thurl
Phrases with gong
Words that rhyme with gong
Questions about gong
- What does gong mean?
- Gong means a percussion instrument consisting of a metal disk that emits a loud resonant sound when struck with a soft hammer.
- What is gong in Hindi?
- Gong in Hindi is घंटा (ghaṇṭā). See Gong meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is gong?
- Gong can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gong?
- Gong is pronounced /ɡɒŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gong?
- The plural of gong is gongs.
Words near gong in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gong (page history and authors); Gong (page history and authors); gong (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gong (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ناقوس (Urdu) (page history and authors); gong (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); జేగంట (Telugu) (page history and authors); gong (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gong (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਘੜਿਆਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); gong (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଘଡ଼ି (Odia) (page history and authors); কাঁহ (Assamese) (page history and authors); gong (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gong.wav, EN-AU ck1 Gong.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.