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Showing results for shipping. Search instead for shlepping.
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; see origin at 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.

This year, Ross said he expects prices to rise even further, as the cost of shipping goods around the world will have also increased due to high fuel costs.

From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026

Iran, China and an array of middlemen have evaded U.S. sanctions for years by shipping oil on aging tankers with opaque records.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026

A lot of the industry's jet fuel supplies come from the Gulf region, and most of it passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed to shipping since the start of March.

From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026

“We’ve been shipping in open seaways since the 1970s, so the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is the piece that is changed this time,” Shipp said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 23, 2026

And then, almost at once, we will be in the harbor, tying up beside Captain Billy’s unpainted two-story ferry house, which leans wearily against a long, low shed used for the captain’s crab shipping business.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

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.