Word.ws English Dictionary

shedding

/ˈʃɛdɪŋ/

shedding is the present participle and gerund of shed.

Noun

shedding (plural sheddings)

  1. The act of shedding, separating, or casting off.
    • the sheddings of blood under the Old Testament
  2. That which is shed, or cast off.
    • sheddings from the pininga. 1850, William Wordsworth, Yew-Trees

Meaning of shed

Verb

shed (third-person singular simple present sheds, present participle shedding, simple past and past participle shed or (nonstandard) shedded)

  1. (UK, dialectal, transitive) To part, separate or divide.
    • to shed something in two
  2. (ambitransitive) To part with, separate from, leave off; cast off, cast, let fall, be divested of.
    • You must shed your fear of the unknown before you can proceed.
  3. (archaic, transitive) To pour; to make flow.
    • Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (transitive) To allow to flow or fall.
    • I didn't shed many tears when he left me.
  5. (transitive) To radiate, cast, give off (light).
    • to shed light on
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To pour forth, give off, impart.
    • Sence now that he by the right honde of god exalted is, and hath receaved off the father the promys off the holy goost, he hath sheed forthe that which ye nowe se and heare.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts ij

See all 23 meanings of shed

Forms of shedding

pluralsheddings

Words formed from shedding

Phrases with shedding

Words that rhyme with shedding

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about shedding

What does shedding mean?
Shedding means the act of shedding, separating, or casting off.
What is shedding the present participle and gerund of?
Shedding is the present participle and gerund of shed.
What part of speech is shedding?
Shedding is a noun.
How do you pronounce shedding?
Shedding is pronounced /ˈʃɛdɪŋ/.
What is the plural of shedding?
The plural of shedding is sheddings.

Words near shedding in the dictionary

  1. Sheddens
  2. shedder
  3. shedders
  4. sheddest
  5. sheddeth
  6. shedding
  7. shedding a tear
  8. shedding blood
  9. shedding game
  10. shedding light on
  11. shedding out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shedding (page history and authors); shed (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-shedding.wav.

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