zoomingadjective
Factsheet
What does the adjective zooming mean?
There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zooming. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.
How common is the adjective zooming?
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0011 |
| 1940 | 0.0013 |
| 1950 | 0.0017 |
| 1960 | 0.0026 |
| 1970 | 0.0041 |
| 1980 | 0.0054 |
| 1990 | 0.0062 |
| 2000 | 0.007 |
| 2010 | 0.0081 |
How is the adjective zooming pronounced?
British English
U.S. English
Where does the adjective zooming come from?
Earliest known use
1900s
The earliest known use of the adjective zooming is in the 1900s.
OED's earliest evidence for zooming is from 1904, in the writing of W. B. Nesbit.
It is also recorded as a noun from the 1890s.
zooming is formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zoom v.1, ‑ing suffix2.
Nearby entries
- zoomancy, n.1888–
- zoomania, n.1807–
- zoomantist, n.1861
- Zoomar, n.1946–
- zoomechanical, adj.1897
- zoomechanics, n.1888–1903
- zoomelanin, n.1858–
- zoometric, adj.1892–
- zoometry, n.1878–
- zooming, n.1892–
- zooming, adj.1904–
- zoom lens, n.1932–
- zoomorph, n.1883–
- zoomorphic, adj.1849–
- zoomorphism, n.1822–
- zoomorphize, v.1940–
- zoomorphizing, n.1895–
- zoomorphosed, adj.1955–
- zoom shot, n.1930–
- zoomy, adj.1931–
- zoomythic, adj.1889–
Etymology
Meaning & use
- 1904–That zooms (in various senses of zoom v.1).
- 1904
There cometh upon the zephyr of the evening A zooming zip that bodeth ill for humanity. For it telleth that the mosquito hath girded on its Armor [etc.].
W. B. Nesbit in Chicago Sunday Tribune 12 June (Comic Supplement) 2/1 - 1920
Naturally, steep climbing or zooming turns are a different matter altogether.
Flight 2 September 963/2 - 1943
Zooming demands for technical books of many kinds..bear witness to the truth of that ancient copy-book maxim, ‘Knowledge is power’.
Sci. & Mech. Spring 18/1 - 1986
His hands reach out to feel the air currents from the zooming cars.
O. P. Adisa, Bake-Face & Other Guava Stories 78 - 2011
The zooming aerial perspectives, the gulfs of heavenly light over smokestack New Jersey.
Atlantic Monthly June 42/2
the world movement rate of motion swiftness swift movement in specific manner [adjectives] moving swiftly with or as with soundsociety travel air or space travel action of flying (in) aircraft specific flying operations or procedures [adjectives] sudden steep ascent- zooming1904–That zooms (in various senses of zoom, v.¹).
society leisure the arts visual arts photography action of taking photograph technical factors [adjectives] manner of altering focal length- zooming1904–That zooms (in various senses of zoom, v.¹).
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige
Vowels
- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot
Frequency
zooming typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.
zooming is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of zooming, adj., 1920–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1920 | 0.0008 |
| 1930 | 0.0011 |
| 1940 | 0.0013 |
| 1950 | 0.0017 |
| 1960 | 0.0026 |
| 1970 | 0.0041 |
| 1980 | 0.0054 |
| 1990 | 0.0062 |
| 2000 | 0.007 |
| 2010 | 0.0081 |