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Synonyms

shipping

1 American  
[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

  1. the act or business of a person or thing that ships.

  2. a number of ships, especially merchant ships, taken as a whole; tonnage.

  3. Obsolete. a voyage.

shipping 2 American  
[ship-ing] / ˈʃɪp ɪŋ /

noun

Slang.

  1. the act or practice of discussing, writing about, or hoping for a romantic relationship between fictional characters, as in fan fiction, or between famous people, whether or not the romance actually exists in the book, show, etc., or in real life.

    the shipping of TV characters;

    shipping in webcomics.
shipping British  
/ ˈʃɪpɪŋ /

noun

    1. the business of transporting freight, esp by ship

    2. ( as modifier )

      a shipping magnate

      shipping line

    1. ships collectively

      there is a lot of shipping in the Channel

    2. the tonnage of a number of ships

      shipping for this year exceeded that of last
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What else does shipping mean? Shipping is the act of wanting two or more fictional characters or celebrities to end up in a relationship, usually romantic.

Other Word Forms

  • nonshipping adjective

Etymology

Origin of shipping1

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; ship 1, -ing 1

Origin of shipping2

First recorded in 1990–95; (relation)ship + -ing 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But Moore thinks Nvidia can continue to command strong customer interest with its upcoming Vera Rubin AI platform, which is slated to start shipping in the second half of this year.

From MarketWatch

This raises the possibility, then, of shipping activity in the Strait of Hormuz being disrupted for months.

From MarketWatch

Disruptions to oil markets or shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could increase costs and therefore inflation, but heightened tensions could weigh on economic activity, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

“However…the disruption to shipping is likely to cause increased demand for air-freight alternatives, which will push prices higher.”

From The Wall Street Journal

This estimate assumes no direct attacks on merchant shipping occur, yet any such strike would likely trigger major repercussions across global war insurance markets, Dylan Mortimer says.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.