Pressing

Pronunciation

Full definition of pressing

Adjective

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)http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/02/argentina-britain-hand-back-falklandsArgentinians 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

Noun

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

1. Present participle of press