timing

plural timings

1. countableobsoleteAn occurrence or event.
2. countableuncountableThe regulation of the pace of e.g. an athletic race, the speed of an engine, the delivery of a joke, or the occurrence of a series of events.

   The key to telling a good joke is timing.

   3 more examples

   The officials used the latest technology to ensure timing down to the nearest millisecond.

   The S.D.R. [Somerset & Dorset Railway] could not adhere to this schedule, and had to decelerate the service, but the original timings were restored when the M.R. and L.S.W.R. leased the S.D.R.

   1953 August, David R. Webb, “By Rail to Bournemouth”, in Railway Magazine, page 554

   Smoking was difficult, I had to have perfect timing, sticking my head as far out the tiny porthole as I could, and timing my puffs to the inhalings and exhalings of the ship.

   2001, Frederick Alan Casemore, Skylarks: For Myself, Lest I Forget, Or Die Unsung, page 171

3. countableuncountableThe time when something happens.

   perfect timing

   1 more example

   The timing of the announcement is related to this months's board meeting.

4. uncountableThe synchronization of the firing of the spark plugs in an internal combustion engine.
5. countableAn instance of recording the time of something.

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of time