Word.ws English Dictionary

suing

suing is the present participle and gerund of sue.

Noun

suing (countable and uncountable, plural suings)

  1. The act of one who sues for something.
    • […] her husband's increased and more frequent storms of passion, unfollowed by any halcyon and honeymoon suings for forgiveness […]1834, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Pilgrims of the Rhine
  2. (obsolete) The process of soaking through anything.
    • In this instance, there is, upon the by, to be noted, the percolation or suing of the verjuice through the wood; for verjuice of itself would never have passed through the wood: so as, it seemeth, it must be first in a kind of vapour, before it pass.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...

Meaning of sue

Verb

sue (third-person singular simple present sues, present participle suing, simple past and past participle sued)

  1. (transitive) To file a legal action against someone, generally a non-criminal (civil) action.
    • sue someone for selling a faulty product
    Synonyms:
    implead
  2. (ambitransitive) To seek by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead.
    • The king of Bimsa sued for peace after Nynal's armies overran his territory; he knew any further resistance would only harm the common people.
  3. (transitive) To clean (the beak, etc.).
  4. (transitive) To leave high and dry on shore.
    • to sue a ship
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To court.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To follow.
    • And the olde knyght seyde unto the yonge knyght, ‘Sir, swith me.’1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum iv”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XIII, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer...

See all 8 meanings of sue

Forms of suing

pluralsuings

Origin of suing

Compare French suer (“to sweat”).

Phrases with suing

Questions about suing

What does suing mean?
Suing means the act of one who sues for something.
What is suing the present participle and gerund of?
Suing is the present participle and gerund of sue.
What part of speech is suing?
Suing is a noun.
What is the plural of suing?
The plural of suing is suings.

Words near suing in the dictionary

  1. suimates
  2. suimono
  3. Suina
  4. suine
  5. suines
  6. suing
  7. suing one's livery
  8. suing out
  9. suingly
  10. suings
  11. Suining

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: suing (page history and authors); sue (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:

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