Word.ws English Dictionary

trepanning

/tɹɪˈpænɪŋ/

trepanning is the present participle and gerund of trepan.

Meaning of trepan

Verb

trepan (third-person singular simple present trepans, present participle trepanning, simple past and past participle trepanned)

  1. (transitive) To create a large hole by making a narrow groove outlining the shape of the hole and then removing the plug of material remaining by less expensive means.
  2. To use a trepan; to trephine.

See all 4 meanings of trepan

Noun

trepanning (countable and uncountable, plural trepannings)

  1. The act of one who trepans.
    • "I believe in the good old British public. Slow and stupid, but sound at the core. They will not stand for injustice if you can get the truth into their heads." "They damned well need trepanning before you can get it there," said the solicitor.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
    • Ms. Feilding, who was known as Lady Mindbender and the Crackpot Countess, once drilled a tiny hole in her skull to increase blood flow, a medieval practice called trepanning. […] Eager to stretch the boundaries of her mind further, Ms. Feilding became obsessed with trepanning, believing that...2025 June 12, Michael S. Rosenwald, “Amanda Feilding, Eccentric Countess Who Backed Psychedelic Meds, Dies at 82”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Synonyms of trepanning

Forms of trepanning

pluraltrepannings

Questions about trepanning

What does trepanning mean?
Trepanning means the act of one who trepans.
What is trepanning the present participle and gerund of?
Trepanning is the present participle and gerund of trepan.
What part of speech is trepanning?
Trepanning is a noun.
How do you pronounce trepanning?
Trepanning is pronounced /tɹɪˈpænɪŋ/.
What is the plural of trepanning?
The plural of trepanning is trepannings.

Words near trepanning in the dictionary

  1. trepanizes
  2. trepanizing
  3. trepanned
  4. trepanner
  5. trepanners
  6. trepanning
  7. trepannings
  8. trepanomatosis
  9. trepanosomiasis
  10. trepans
  11. Trepassey

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trepanning (page history and authors); trepan (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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Cite this entry: “trepanning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/trepanning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.