Word.ws English Dictionary

ripping

/ˈɹɪpɪŋ/

ripping is the present participle and gerund of rip.

Adjective

ripping

  1. That rips, or can be removed by ripping.
  2. (dated, slang) Excellent.
    • “First-class place, Simla. Oh, ri—ipping!” said Bobby Wick, and ordered new white cord breeches on the strength of it.1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 143
    • We never had a Christmas in the country before. It was simply ripping.1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC

Noun

ripping (countable and uncountable, plural rippings)

  1. The process of copying audio or video content from a CD, DVD, etc. to a hard disk.
  2. Wood that has been ripped (cut parallel to the grain).
  3. (Australia) The process of ploughing a rabbit warren with deep furrows as a form of feral control.
  4. The use of diet and exercise to reduce body fat and emphasize muscle mass.

Meaning of rip

Verb

rip (third-person singular simple present rips, present participle ripping, simple past and past participle ripped)

  1. (transitive) To divide or separate the parts of (especially something flimsy, such as paper or fabric), by cutting or tearing; to tear off or out by violence.
    • to rip a garment; to rip up a floor
  2. (intransitive) To tear apart; to rapidly become two parts.
    • My shirt ripped when it was caught on a bramble.
  3. (transitive) To remove violently or wrongly.
    • A child untimely ripped from its parents' arms.
  4. (transitive) To get by, or as if by, cutting or tearing.
    • He'll rip the fatal secret from her heart.1726, George Granville, Cleora
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) To move quickly and destructively.
    • The tornado ripped through northern Nebraska.
  6. To cut wood along (parallel to) the grain.

See all 37 meanings of rip

Forms of ripping

pluralrippings

Words formed from ripping

Phrases with ripping

10 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about ripping

What does ripping mean?
Ripping means that rips, or can be removed by ripping.
What is ripping the present participle and gerund of?
Ripping is the present participle and gerund of rip.
What part of speech is ripping?
Ripping can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce ripping?
Ripping is pronounced /ˈɹɪpɪŋ/.

Words near ripping in the dictionary

  1. Rippie
  2. rippier
  3. rippiers
  4. Rippin
  5. rippin'
  6. ripping
  7. ripping a page out of someone's book
  8. ripping a page out of someone's playbook
  9. ripping along
  10. ripping apart
  11. ripping ass

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ripping (page history and authors); rip (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-ripping.ogg.

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