English

Adjective

pressing ‎(comparative more pressing, superlative most pressing)

1. Needing urgent attention.
   • 2013, Luke Harding and Uki Goni, Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism (in The Guardian, 3 January 2013)

     Argentinians support the "Malvinas" cause, which is written into the constitution. But they are also worried about pressing economic problems such as inflation, rising crime and corruption.

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, ch. 75,

     “I come on business.—Private,” he added, with a glance at the man who stood looking on, “and very pressing business.”

2. Insistent, earnest, or persistent.
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 2,

     You are very pressing, Basil, but I am afraid I must go.

   • 1908, Joseph Conrad, "The Duel,"

     He was pressing and persuasive.

Derived terms

• pressingly
• pressingness

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:pressing.

Translations

Noun

pressing ‎(plural pressings)

1. The application of pressure by a press or other means.
2. A metal or plastic part made with a press.
3. The process of improving the appearance of clothing by improving creases and removing wrinkles with a press or an iron.
4. A memento preserved by pressing, folding, or drying between the leaves of a flat container, book, or folio. Usually done with a flower, ribbon, letter, or other soft, small keepsake.
5. The extraction of juice from fruit using a press.
6. A phonograph record; a number of records pressed at the same time.
7. Urgent insistence.

Verb

pressing

1. present participle of press

French

Etymology

A pseudo-anglicism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛ.siŋ/, /pʁe.siŋ/

Noun

pressing m ‎(plural pressings)

1. dry cleaning shop, a dry-cleaner's