Word.ws English Dictionary

sobbing

Syllables: sob·bing/ˈsɒbɪŋ/US/ˈsɑbɪŋ/

sobbing is the present participle and gerund of sob.

Meaning of sob

Verb (1)

sob (third-person singular simple present sobs, present participle sobbing, simple past and past participle sobbed)

  1. (intransitive) To weep with convulsive gasps.
    • She was sobbing because she was feeling very miserable.
  2. (transitive) To say (something) while sobbing.
    • "He doesn't love me!" she sobbed.

Verb (2)

sob (third-person singular simple present sobs, present participle sobbing, simple past and past participle sobbed)

  1. To soak.
    • the Tree, being sobbed and wet, ſwells the Wood1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC

See all 5 meanings of sob

Noun

sobbing (countable and uncountable, plural sobbings)

  1. Act of one who sobs; a crying or weeping.
    Synonyms:
    crying, sobs

Adjective

sobbing (not comparable)

  1. That or who sobs.
    • a sobbing child
    • Moſs is to be rubb'd and ſcrap'd off with ſome fit inſtrument of Wood, which may not excorticate the Tree, or with a piece of Hair-cloth after a ſobbing Rain: [...]1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal...

Synonyms of sobbing

Forms of sobbing

pluralsobbings

Words formed from sobbing

Questions about sobbing

What does sobbing mean?
Sobbing means act of one who sobs; a crying or weeping.
What is sobbing the present participle and gerund of?
Sobbing is the present participle and gerund of sob.
What part of speech is sobbing?
Sobbing can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce sobbing?
Sobbing is pronounced /ˈsɒbɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of sobbing?
The plural of sobbing is sobbings.

Words near sobbing in the dictionary

  1. sobbie
  2. sobbier
  3. sobbies
  4. sobbiest
  5. sobbin'
  6. sobbing
  7. sobbingly
  8. sobbings
  9. sobby
  10. Sobczak
  11. Sobczaks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sobbing (page history and authors); sob (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sobbing.wav.

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