Word.ws English Dictionary

settling

Syllables: sett·ling/ˈsɛtl̩ɪŋ/

settling is the present participle and gerund of settle.

Noun

settling (countable and uncountable, plural settlings)

  1. The act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing oneself, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
  2. The reckoning or settlement of accounts; the paying out of gambling winnings.
  3. (plural-normally) Dregs; sediment.

Meaning of settle

Verb

settle (third-person singular simple present settles, present participle settling, simple past and past participle settled)

  1. (transitive) To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc).
    • His fears were settled
    Synonyms:
    seal
  2. (transitive) To conclude, to cause (a dispute) to finish.
    • to settle a quarrel
    Synonyms:
    dispose, dispose of
  3. (transitive) In particular, to terminate (a lawsuit), usually out of court, by agreement of all parties.
    Synonyms:
    dispose, dispose of
  4. (transitive) To close, liquidate or balance (an account) by payment, sometimes of less than is owed or due.
    • The coffee was only surface wet and looked worse than it actually was and as he returned to the Reception Desk to settle his account and give back his room key, he was met again by the young man who was still wearing his rucksack.2012, Paul Kelly, Willie Blair: A Tale of True Loss and Sadness, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    discharge
  5. (colloquial, transitive) To pay (a bill or debt).
  6. (intransitive) To adjust differences or accounts; to come to an agreement on matters in dispute.
    • He has settled with his creditors.

See all 40 meanings of settle

Forms of settling

pluralsettlings

Words formed from settling

Phrases with settling

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about settling

What does settling mean?
Settling means the act of one who, or that which, settles; the act of establishing oneself, of colonizing, subsiding, adjusting, etc.
What is settling the present participle and gerund of?
Settling is the present participle and gerund of settle.
What part of speech is settling?
Settling is a noun.
How do you pronounce settling?
Settling is pronounced /ˈsɛtl̩ɪŋ/.
What is the plural of settling?
The plural of settling is settlings.

Words near settling in the dictionary

  1. settles the score
  2. settles up
  3. settles upon
  4. settles with
  5. settlin'
  6. settling
  7. settling a score
  8. settling accounts with
  9. settling down
  10. settling for
  11. settling in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: settling (page history and authors); settle (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-us-settling.ogg.

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