Word.ws English Dictionary

shadowing

Syllables: sha·dow·ingUK/ˈʃædəʊɪŋ//ʃædoʊɪŋ/

shadowing noun: the effect of being shadowed (in the sense of blocked), as from a light source or radio transmission. Also the present participle and gerund of shadow.

Noun

shadowing (countable and uncountable, plural shadowings)

  1. The effect of being shadowed (in the sense of blocked), as from a light source or radio transmission.
  2. The situation where a person repeats speech immediately as they hear it (usually through earphones).
  3. Secretly or discreetly tracking or following someone, keeping under surveillance.
  4. A faint representation; an adumbration.
    • There are […] in savage theology shadowings, quaint or majestic, of the conception of a Supreme Deity.1871, Edward Burnett Tylor, Primitive Culture
  5. The technique of copying ROM contents to RAM to allow for shorter access times. The ROM chip is then disabled while the initialized memory locations are switched in on the same block of addresses.
  6. A work experience option where students learn about a job by walking through the work day as a shadow to a competent worker.

Also used as

shadowing is also the present participle and gerund of shadow.

Forms of shadowing

pluralshadowings

Origin of shadowing

From shadow (verb) + -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action; or forming present participles of verbs).

Words formed from shadowing

Words that rhyme with shadowing

Questions about shadowing

What does shadowing mean?
Shadowing means the effect of being shadowed (in the sense of blocked), as from a light source or radio transmission.
What part of speech is shadowing?
Shadowing is a noun.
How do you pronounce shadowing?
Shadowing is pronounced /ˈʃædəʊɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of shadowing?
The plural of shadowing is shadowings.

Words near shadowing in the dictionary

  1. shadowier
  2. shadowiest
  3. shadowily
  4. shadowiness
  5. shadowinesses
  6. shadowing
  7. shadowings
  8. shadowish
  9. shadowishly
  10. shadowland
  11. shadowlands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shadowing (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-shadowing.ogg.

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