Word.ws English Dictionary

peppering

peppering is the present participle and gerund of pepper.

Meaning of pepper

Verb

pepper (third-person singular simple present peppers, present participle peppering, simple past and past participle peppered)

  1. (transitive) To add pepper to.
  2. (transitive) To strike with something made up of small particles.
  3. (transitive) To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).
    • After the hailstorm, the beach was peppered with holes.
  4. (transitive) To add (something) at frequent intervals.
    • He liked to pepper long words throughout his conversation.
  5. (slang, transitive) To beat or thrash.
    • Rom. Courage man, the hurt cannot be much.
      Mer. No: 'tis not ſo deepe as a well, nor ſo wide as a Church doore, but 'tis inough, 'twill ſerue : aske for me to morrow, and you ſhall find me a graue man. I am pepper'd I warrant, for this world: a plague a both your houſes.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  6. To use a pepper (type of value used prior to hashing).

See all 16 meanings of pepper

Noun

peppering (plural pepperings)

  1. (figuratively, literally) A light sprinkling or spray, as with black pepper specks, bullets, or questions.
    • Besides, the advantage sought is but a cowardly advantage; for when all is said, the pepperings from the small shot of female eloquence are great only to little men.1840, Colburn's New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, volume 60, page 57

Forms of peppering

pluralpepperings

Phrases with peppering

Questions about peppering

What does peppering mean?
Peppering means a light sprinkling or spray, as with black pepper specks, bullets, or questions.
What is peppering the present participle and gerund of?
Peppering is the present participle and gerund of pepper.
What part of speech is peppering?
Peppering is a noun.
What is the plural of peppering?
The plural of peppering is pepperings.

Words near peppering in the dictionary

  1. pepperidges
  2. pepperier
  3. pepperiest
  4. pepperily
  5. pepperiness
  6. peppering
  7. peppering up
  8. pepperings
  9. pepperish
  10. pepperishly
  11. pepperita

Source and license

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