detailing

Pluraldetailings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A careful, thorough cleaning and refurbishing of a vehicle such as a car, boat, or aircraft.

   The detailing took three hours and left the upholstery looking brand new.

   Professional detailing includes waxing the exterior and shampooing the carpets.

   Similarvalet, cleaning

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of detail.

   She is detailing her travel expenses for the accounting office.

   The witness spent an hour detailing the events of that night.

   Note

   The participle carries all three meanings of the verb detail: to explain fully, to assign someone to a task, and to clean carefully. The cleaning use is said especially of road vehicles and is always pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, /ˈdiːteɪl/. That pronunciation carries over to the car-care noun, so a crew detailing a car is said with that stress.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Ornamentation or decorative work applied to something that has been built or made.

   The architect preserved the intricate detailing on the building's facade.

   Hand-carved detailing gave the cabinet its antique character.

   Similarornamentation, decoration, embellishment, trim, adornment

   Note

   Here the word names the finishing touches of almost any made thing, from a dress's neckline to a diner's entryway. Diners of Pennsylvania (1999) calls one diner "unsurpassed in exaggerated detailings," and Railroad Model Craftsman (1982) uses it for a model's walkway and platforms. It pairs naturally with elaborate or exaggerated. In the countable plural, each detailing is a separate ornament.

4. 4
   noununcountable

   A thorough description or explanation that lays out every part of something.

   The report's detailing of each expense reassured the board.

   Her detailing of the procedure was so precise that nothing was left unclear.

   Similaritemization, breakdown, enumeration, specification, description

   Oppositesummary, outline

   Note

   In the plural, each recounting becomes an item of its own. Paul Greenberg's 2009 New York Times review, "The Oceans' Junkyards," faults a book for "the detailings of one too many garbage finds." In the singular, the word names the thoroughness of an account as a whole, as in a report's detailing of every expense. The plural breaks that account into separate, countable stretches of description.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The act of assigning someone to carry out a particular task or duty.

   The detailing of soldiers to kitchen duty rotated on a weekly basis.

   His detailing to the night shift came without any warning.

   Similarassignment, posting, allocation, deployment

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