unringing

unringing is the present participle and gerund of unring.

Meaning of unring

unring (third-person singular simple present unrings, present participle unringing, simple past unrang, past participle unrung)

(transitive) Hypothetically, to reverse the act of ringing, or the consequences of the action.
- In a criminal trial, if the prosecution brings in inadmissible evidence that would unfairly prejudice the accused, a mistrial may be warranted. Having the judge admonish the jury to disregard the evidence might not be enough, as the saying goes, 'You can't unring the bell.'

unring (third-person singular simple present unrings, present participle unringing, simple past and past participle unringed)

(poetic, transitive) To remove a ring from.
- Her lofty song commands in thrilling strains
  That new-raised woman snap her rusty chains,
  Unring her finger and unbind her breast.1979, John Jefferson Bray, “The Story of Iphis”, in Poems 1972-1979

unringing (not comparable)

Not ringing.
- He's the kind of person whose trials are writ in water; but even he has waited by an unringing telephone, even he has futilely hoped, even he carries memories that continue to smart.2009, Sonya Hartnett, Butterfly

What does unringing mean?: Unringing means not ringing.
What is unringing the present participle and gerund of?: Unringing is the present participle and gerund of unring.
What part of speech is unringing?: Unringing is an adjective.

Adapted from Wiktionary: unringing (page history and authors); unring (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

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