tossing

/ˈtɒsɪŋ/

tossing is the present participle and gerund of toss.

Noun

tossing (plural tossings)

The motion of something that tosses; a throwing or sudden rising and falling.
- Starbuck himself was seen coolly and adroitly balancing himself to the jerking tossings of his chip of a craft.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 48, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
The process of washing ores by violent agitation in water, in order to separate the lighter or earthy particles; tozing.
- If it is necessary buddle the Tin over again , after it is sifted ( which is the best method for cleansing most sorts of Tin , for there may lie a rough waste , that will not come off by tossing and packing ) then buddle it over again1778, William Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining […]
A process for refining tin by dropping it through the air while melted.

toss (third-person singular simple present tosses, present participle tossing, simple past and past participle tossed or (obsolete) tost)

To throw with an initial upward direction.
- Toss it over here!
Synonyms:

chuck, fling, bung, cast, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck, jerk
To lift with a sudden or violent motion.
- to toss the head
To agitate; to make restless.
- Calm region once,
  And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
Synonyms:

perturb, provoke, vex
To subject to trials; to harass.
- Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.[1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis...
Synonyms:

beleaguer, beset, pester
To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.
- We should toss for it.
(informal, transitive) To discard; to throw away.
- I don't need it any more; you can just toss it.
Synonyms:

toss out, throw out, junk, 86, bin, can, cast aside, cast off, cast away, chuck

tossing (not comparable)

(colloquial, vulgar) Used to disparage or curse someone or something.
- I can't get this tossing program to work.

plural	tossings

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

What does tossing mean?: Tossing means the motion of something that tosses; a throwing or sudden rising and falling.
What is tossing the present participle and gerund of?: Tossing is the present participle and gerund of toss.
What part of speech is tossing?: Tossing can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce tossing?: Tossing is pronounced /ˈtɒsɪŋ/.
What is the plural of tossing?: The plural of tossing is tossings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: tossing (page history and authors); toss (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tossing.wav.

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