topping
Syllables: top·pingUK/ˈtɒpɪŋ//ˈtɑpɪŋ/
topping is the present participle and gerund of top.
Adjective
topping (comparative more topping, superlative most topping)
- Wonderful.
- “My boy came home last night,” sang the waitress. “Oh, I say–how topping for you !” gurgled the cashier.1919, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Pictures”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 162
- 'Well,' he said, settling back in the seat directly opposite. 'It's a topping day.'1953, Roald Dahl, Galloping Foxley
- Assuming superiority; proud.
- A second Ground, upon which Men are apt to persuade themselves, that they shall escape the Stroke of Divine Justice for their Sins, is their Observation of the great and flourishing Condition of some of the topping Sinners of the World.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
Noun
topping (countable and uncountable, plural toppings)
- Any food item added on top of another, such as sprinkles on ice cream or pepperoni on pizza.
- Pepperoni and mushrooms are common pizza toppings.
- The act of cutting off the top of something.
- The act of raising one extremity of a spar higher than the other.
- Either of the cables that support the ends of a spar or boom.
- The tail of an artificial fly.
Meaning of top
Verb
top (third-person singular simple present tops, present participle topping, simple past and past participle topped)
- To cover on the top or with a top.
- I like my ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.
- To exceed in height.
- Five were proper slender youths, the eldest of whom had not yet beard full grown, black-browed and great of jaw; the sixth, huge as a neat, topped them by half a head.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 17
- To excel, to surpass, to beat, to exceed.
- Titanic was the most successful film ever until it was topped by another Cameron film, Avatar.
- Synonyms:
- beat, better, best, exceed, bear away the bell, overtake, dwarf, eclipse, excel, hold the cards
- To be in the lead, to be at number one position (of).
- Celine Dion topped the UK music charts twice in the 1990s.
- To cut or remove the top (as of a tree)
- I don't want to be bald, so just top my hair.
- To commit suicide.
- Depression causes many people to top themselves.
Proper noun capitalized: Topping
Topping (plural Toppings)
- A surname.
Synonyms of topping
Forms of topping
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more topping |
| superlative | most topping |
| Noun | |
| plural | toppings |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Toppings |
Origin of topping
From Middle English toppyng; equivalent to top + -ing.
Words formed from topping
Phrases with topping
Words that rhyme with topping
- shopping
- stopping
- cropping
- dropping
- chopping
- clopping
- hopping
- lopping
- mopping
- popping
- bopping
- sopping
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about topping
- What does topping mean?
- Topping means wonderful.
- What is topping the present participle and gerund of?
- Topping is the present participle and gerund of top.
- What part of speech is topping?
- Topping can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce topping?
- Topping is pronounced /ˈtɑpɪŋ/ (US).
Words near topping in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: topping (page history and authors); Topping (page history and authors); top (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)-Flame, not lame-topping.wav.
Cite this entry: “topping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/topping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.