Word.ws English Dictionary

hanging

Syllables: hang·ingUK/ˈhæŋɪŋ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈhaŋɪŋ/

hanging is the present participle and gerund of hang.

Adjective

hanging (not comparable)

  1. Suspended.
    • The hanging vines made the house look older than it was.
  2. Unprotected and exposed to capture.
  3. (slang) Hittable; poorly executed by the pitcher, hence relatively easy to hit.
    • hanging breaking ball
    • hanging slider
  4. (UK, slang) Ugly; very unattractive; disgusting.
    • MUGSEY: Yeah. You fancy ‘im don’ you.
      LEANNE: No I don’t. Shut yer mouth.
      MUGSEY: Your mum said he’s gonna end up just like his dad.
      LEANNE: She don’ even know Bingo. Anyway, I don’t fancy ‘im, ‘e’s hanging.2007, Summer Scars (film screenplay)
  5. Extending beyond the margins of a page.
    • hanging punctuation

Noun

hanging (countable and uncountable, plural hangings)

  1. The act of hanging a person (or oneself) by the neck in order to kill that person (or to commit suicide).
    • Hanging is the punishment for one convicted of war crimes, there.
    • The hanging of the bandits was attended by the whole village.
  2. (countable) Anything that is hung as a decorative element (such as curtains, gobelins, or posters).
    • The various hangings on that Christmas tree look nice.
  3. (uncountable) The way in which hangings (decorations) are arranged.
    • I dislike the cramped hanging in the gallery of 18th century painters.

Meaning of hang

Verb

hang (third-person singular simple present hangs, present participle hanging, simple past and past participle hung or (law) hanged)

  1. (intransitive) To be or remain suspended.
    • The lights hung from the ceiling.
    Synonyms:
    be suspend, dangle
  2. (intransitive) To float, as if suspended.
    • The smoke hung in the room.
    Synonyms:
    float, hover
  3. (intransitive) To veer in one direction.
    • The jockey claimed that the horse hung towards the outside[…]1979, Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales, New South Wales Law Reports (non-fiction), New South Wales: Council of Law Reporting for New South Wales, published 1979, page 16
  4. (intransitive, usually) To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of the ground.
  5. (transitive) To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.
    • He hung his head in shame.
    Synonyms:
    drop, lower
  6. (transitive) To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger, hinges, or the like.
    • Hang those lights from the ceiling.

See all 32 meanings of hang

Synonyms of hanging

Forms of hanging

pluralhangings

Origin of hanging

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

From Middle English hangynge, honginge, equivalent to hang + -ing. Compare Old English hengen (“hanging”) and hōhing (“hanging”).

Words formed from hanging

Phrases with hanging

74 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with hanging

Questions about hanging

What does hanging mean?
Hanging means suspended.
What is hanging the present participle and gerund of?
Hanging is the present participle and gerund of hang.
What part of speech is hanging?
Hanging can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce hanging?
Hanging is pronounced /ˈhæŋɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near hanging in the dictionary

  1. Hanggin
  2. Hangha
  3. Hanghang
  4. hangi
  5. hangin'
  6. hanging
  7. hanging a left
  8. hanging a leg
  9. hanging a Louie
  10. hanging a Ralph
  11. hanging a right

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hanging (page history and authors); hang (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:

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

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