reading

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of read

plural readings

1. countableuncountableThe process of interpreting written language.

   That's my reading of the current situation.

   1 more example

   The student is behind in his reading by several chapters.

   1. countableuncountableThe process of interpreting a symbol, a sign or a measuring device.
   2. broadlycountableuncountableAn interpretation.
2. countableuncountableA value indicated by a measuring device.

   He glanced across and took note of the speedometer reading.

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   He noted that fine dust readings have been higher in Seoul than in Beijing recently.

   2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

3. countableuncountableAn event at which written material is read aloud.

   I attended a poetry reading.

4. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe wording of a version of a text in a particular place or context.
5. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA pronunciation associated with a particular character or word; particularly in East Asian scripts.

   Some Chinese characters have numerous readings.

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   Recent reports from Taiwan (Formosa), although fragmentary, begin to give a picture of economic conditions following the conclusion of the war. Now officially referred to as Taiwan Province, the island's former Japanese administration is being replaced by Chinese officials with little change, at least as yet, in the administrative pattern. Although there is no indication that ideographs will be changed, Chinese readings rather than Japanese will be followed for place names. Taihoku, for example, will be read in our alphabet as Taipei. This city presumably will continue to be the capital of Taiwan.

   1946 February 16, “China”, in Foreign Commerce Weekly, volume XXII, number 7, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 2

6. countableuncountableSomething to read; reading material.

   The second level of reading we will call Inspectional Reading. It is characterized by its special emphasis on time. When reading at this level, the student is allowed a set time to complete an assigned amount of reading.

   1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 18

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   This is emphatically true; and hence the Portuguese Epic has been universally recognised as wholesome and tonic reading, in fact, the very reverse of a certain “poisonous honey”; and the general directness of the Camonian style, and the straightforwardness with which the Great Portuguese calls a spade (when he must name it) a spade, is a pleasant contrast to that over-development, or rather abuse of Shelleyism, which in this stage of English versification suggests the “tale full of sound and fury,” and of mighty little meaning, though the words seem very strong.

   1881, Camoens: His Life and His Lusiads, pages 725–726

7. countableuncountableThe extent of what one has read.

   He's a man of good reading.

8. countableuncountablegovernmentOne of several stages a bill passes through before becoming law.
9. countableuncountableA piece of literature or passage of scripture read aloud to an audience.

   After the homily there will be two readings from the Bible.

10. uncountableeducationThe content of a reading list.
11. uncountablegoThe act or process of imagining sequences of potential moves and responses without actually placing stones.

1. A surname.
2. A large town in Berkshire, England.

   A unitary authority and borough (Reading Borough Council) in Berkshire.

3. A number of places in the United States:
   1. A minor city in Lyon County, Kansas.
   2. A town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

      Newton joins Brookline and a dozen other towns that have adopted similar bans, including Belchertown, Chelsea, Concord, Malden, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Melrose, Needham, Pelham, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Winchester, according to the state Department of Public Health.

      2025 January 22, Nick Stoico, “Newton city council approves generational tobacco ban, joining other Mass. towns”, in Boston Globe, archived from the original on 23 Jan 2025

   3. A city and township in Hillsdale County, Michigan.
   4. An unincorporated community in Nobles County, Minnesota.
   5. A ghost town in Pike County, Missouri.
   6. A town in Schuyler County, New York.
   7. A city in Hamilton County, Ohio.
   8. An unincorporated community in Columbiana County, Ohio.
   9. A city, the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, named after Reading in Berkshire, England.

      His district — which covers all but seven eastern Lancaster County municipalities along with Reading in Berks County and parts of western Chester County — was reconfigured to to ^([sic]) drop Berks and Chester while expanding to all of Lancaster County and adding southern York County.

      2018 October 21, Sam Janesch, “Meet Lloyd Smucker: Amish-born congressman seeking a second term on tax cuts and conservative record”, in Lancaster Online, archived from the original on 04 Sep 2022

   10. A town in Windsor County, Vermont.
   11. A number of other townships, listed under Reading Township.
4. A small town in Saint James parish, Jamaica.