Word.ws English Dictionary

polishing

polishing is the present participle and gerund of polish.

polishing is the verbal noun of polish.

Adjective

polishing (not comparable)

  1. That makes shiny or smooth.
  2. That refines.

Meaning of polish

Verb

polish (third-person singular simple present polishes, present participle polishing, simple past and past participle polished)

  1. (transitive) To shine; to make a surface very smooth or shiny by rubbing, cleaning, or grinding.
    • He polished up the chrome until it gleamed.
  2. (transitive) To refine; remove imperfections from.
    • The band has polished its performance since the last concert.
  3. (transitive) To apply shoe polish to shoes.
  4. (intransitive) To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface.
    • Steel polishes well.
  5. (transitive) To refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite.
    • Arts that polish Life.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

See all 11 meanings of polish

Noun

polishing (countable and uncountable, plural polishings)

  1. (plural-normally) An extract of partially milled rice.

Forms of polishing

pluralpolishings

Words formed from polishing

Phrases with polishing

Questions about polishing

What does polishing mean?
Polishing means an extract of partially milled rice.
What is polishing the present participle and gerund of?
Polishing is the present participle and gerund of polish.
What part of speech is polishing?
Polishing can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of polishing?
The plural of polishing is polishings.

Words near polishing in the dictionary

  1. polishes one's rocket
  2. polishes the pearl
  3. polishes up
  4. polishes up on
  5. polishest
  6. polishing
  7. polishing a turd
  8. polishing off
  9. polishing one's rocket
  10. polishing slate
  11. polishing slates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: polishing (page history and authors); polish (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-polishing.wav.

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