stabbing

The word “stabbing” means an incident in which someone is stabbed with a weapon. In plain terms, either a knife attack, or a description of sudden, sharp pain.

“Stabbing” is pronounced STAB-ihng (/ˈstæb.ɪŋ/ in IPA).

Here is “stabbing” used in a sentence: “Police are investigating a stabbing in the city centre.”

Depending on how it is used, “stabbing” can be a noun and an adjective.

“Stabbing” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Stabbing” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: an incident in which someone is stabbed with a weapon.

A stabbing specifically refers to an incident in which someone is attacked with a bladed or pointed weapon, while a shooting involves a firearm. Both terms describe violent incidents but differ in the type of weapon used.

As an adjective, stabbing describes pain that is sharp and sudden, such as a stabbing headache or stabbing chest pain, drawing a comparison to the sudden sharpness of being stabbed with a weapon. This usage is common in medical and everyday descriptions of pain.

In news reporting, stabbing is most commonly used as a noun to describe the violent incident itself, such as a stabbing that occurred downtown, whereas the adjective sense describing sharp pain appears more often in medical or personal descriptions.