pressing

comparative more pressing · superlative most pressing

1. Needing urgent attention.

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

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 75.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC

   4 more examples

   And now the world will have to pause a little, and take up that other side of the problem, and in right earnest strive for some solution of that. For it has become pressing.

   1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 3, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 20

   The rebuilding of damaged stations is proceeding slowly, on account of the shortage of building materials and the pressing needs of housing, but steady progress is being made.

   1951 March, E. J. Tyler, “Post-War Recovery on the Netherlands Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 157

   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.

   2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, “Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism'”, in The Guardian

   Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long.

   2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse..., archived from the original on 04 Dec 2022

   Synonyms: instant

2. Insistent, earnest, or persistent.

   He was pressing and persuasive.

   1908, Joseph Conrad, The Duel

   1 more example

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

   1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 2, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

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.
8. ball gamesA tactic of defending players moving forward towards the ball, rather than remaining in position near their goal.

   His version of pressing—dynamic and aggressive—is now the pre-eminent tactical mode, prompting evolution even in Pep Guardiola, whose press-and-possess football at Barcelona had laid the groundwork for this development.

   2020 February 1, Jonathan Wilson, “Pioneering reds to the Reds: Why Jürgen Klopp’s pressing is a perfect fit for the age”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of press