peaking

/ˈpiːkɪŋ/

peaking is the present participle and gerund of peak.

Noun

peaking (plural peakings)

The act of something reaching a peak.
- The peaking of each of these hormone levels may occur at different times.
The act of something operating when something else is at a peak.
1. The act of generating extra electricity while demand for it is at a peak (e.g., at certain times of day, in very hot weather, in very cold weather).
  - Currently their best stopgap for peaking in this region is a vast fleet of small diesel gensets, which many residents are furious about.
  - It doesn’t seem likely that we’ll see many more of these coal-to-gas conversions. For one, there are just a lot fewer coal plants in the US than there used to be: we’re down to just over 200 from a peak of nearly 600. The most obvious candidates for conversion — smaller, older plants that might be...2026 June 19, Brian Potter, “Converting Coal Plants to Natural Gas”, in Construction Physics [Substack newsletter], archived from the original on 19 Jun 2026

peak (third-person singular simple present peaks, present participle peaking, simple past and past participle peaked)

(transitive) To raise the point of (a gaff) closer to perpendicular.
(transitive) To exceed the maximum signal amplitude of (a piece of equipment), resulting in clipping of the signal.
(intransitive) To reach a highest degree or maximum.
- Historians argue about when the Roman Empire began to peak and ultimately decay.
(intransitive) To rise or extend into a peak or point; to form, or appear as, a peak.
- There peaketh up a mightie high mounte.1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC
(intransitive) To reach the highest level of success or greatness in one's lifetime.
(intransitive) To reach the point of strongest effect from a drug.

peaking (comparative more peaking, superlative most peaking)

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does peaking mean?: Peaking means the act of something reaching a peak.
What is peaking the present participle and gerund of?: Peaking is the present participle and gerund of peak.
What part of speech is peaking?: Peaking can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce peaking?: Peaking is pronounced /ˈpiːkɪŋ/.
What is the plural of peaking?: The plural of peaking is peakings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: peaking (page history and authors); peak (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: 2026-09-02

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