Word.ws English Dictionary

locking in

locking in is the present participle and gerund of lock in.

Meaning of lock in

Verb

lock in (third-person singular simple present locks in, present participle locking in, simple past and past participle locked in)

  1. (transitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To secure (someone or something) in a locked enclosure.
    • The dog won't escape now we've locked him in.
  2. (transitive) To fix the value of (something potentially variable).
    • I've locked in a rate of 5%.
  3. (colloquial, transitive) To prevent (someone or something) from escaping, deteriorating, or switching to an alternative.
    • Our new foil packets keep the flavour of the crisps locked in.
  4. (transitive) To synchronize (especially a rhythm section) into a groove.
  5. (colloquial, intransitive, transitive) To focus entirely (on something).
    • I need to lock in for this exam I'm taking tomorrow.

Questions about locking in

What is locking in the present participle and gerund of?
Locking in is the present participle and gerund of lock in.

Words near locking in in the dictionary

  1. locking down
  2. locking eyes
  3. locking frame
  4. locking frames
  5. locking horns
  6. locking in
  7. locking into
  8. locking lips
  9. locking off
  10. locking on
  11. locking out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: locking in (page history and authors); lock in (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: “locking in.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/locking_in. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.