Word.ws English Dictionary

reckoning

Syllables: reck·on·ing/ˈɹɛkənɪŋ/

reckoning is the present participle and gerund of reckon.

Noun

reckoning (countable and uncountable, plural reckonings)

  1. The action of calculating or estimating something.
    • By that reckoning, it would take six weeks to go five miles.
    • So saying, he called for a reckoning for the wine, and throwing down the price of the additional bottle which he had himself introduced, rose as if to take leave of us.1817, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy
    Synonyms:
    calculation
  2. An opinion or judgement.
    • day of reckoning
  3. A summing up or appraisal.
    • My mother's father was a small-town school teacher, an occupation with somewhat more status (teachers are petit bourgeois by the standard reckoning) which nevertheless provided little more income than on my father's side.1984 February 4, David Morris, “Different Origins: Joto Güero del West Side”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 15
    • The research presented in this paper is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reckoning of an expanding set of portmanteau terms based on the word English.2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 18
  4. The settlement of accounts, as between parties.
  5. The working out of consequences or retribution for one's actions.
  6. (archaic) The bill (UK) or check (US), especially at an inn or tavern.
  7. (archaic) Rank or status.

Meaning of reckon

Verb

reckon (third-person singular simple present reckons, present participle reckoning, simple past and past participle reckoned)

  1. (Commonwealth) To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
    • then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 27:18
  2. (Commonwealth) To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
    • He was reckoned among the transgressors1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:12
  3. (Commonwealth) To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
    • […] faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 4:9
    Synonyms:
    value, rate, esteem
  4. (Commonwealth, colloquial) To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause
    • I reckon he won't try that again.
  5. (Commonwealth) To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e. to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
    • There are hardships that nobody reckons;
      There are valleys unpeopled and still;
      There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons,
      And I want to go back—and I will.1907, Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon
  6. (Commonwealth, intransitive) To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
    Synonyms:
    enumerate, compute

See all 8 meanings of reckon

Synonyms of reckoning

Forms of reckoning

pluralreckonings

Origin of reckoning

Gerund of the verb reckon, from reckon + -ing. Compare Dutch rekening, German Rechnung.

Words formed from reckoning

Phrases with reckoning

Questions about reckoning

What does reckoning mean?
Reckoning means the action of calculating or estimating something.
What is reckoning the present participle and gerund of?
Reckoning is the present participle and gerund of reckon.
What part of speech is reckoning?
Reckoning is a noun.
How do you pronounce reckoning?
Reckoning is pronounced /ˈɹɛkənɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of reckoning?
The plural of reckoning is reckonings.

Words near reckoning in the dictionary

  1. reckoner
  2. reckoners
  3. reckonest
  4. reckoneth
  5. reckonin'
  6. reckoning
  7. reckoning for
  8. reckoning on
  9. reckoning out
  10. reckoning up
  11. reckoning upon

Source and license

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