# mouthing

Pronunciation: say "MOWTH-ing" /ˈmaʊðɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of mouth. — present participle and gerund of mouth
   - Simple: The -ing form of mouth. Use it after am, is, are, was or were, or to name the action.
   - _The actor was mouthing his lines while the crew adjusted the lights._
   - _She caught him mouthing something to her behind the teacher's back._

## Noun

2. The act of shaping the lips and mouth into a word, especially alongside manual signs in sign language.
   - Simple: Shaping your lips and mouth to show a word, often used along with signs in sign language.
   - _Interpreters often add mouthing to clarify signs that share similar hand shapes._
   - _Her mouthing of each word accompanied the signs so beginners could follow along._
3. Loud, passionate speech that carries strong feeling but no real meaning.
   - Simple: Loud, angry talking that sounds important but really means nothing.
   - _The crowd quickly grew bored with the senator's empty mouthing._
   - _Her statement was pure mouthing: full of fire, short on substance._

## Verb

4. Present participle of mouthe (rare). *(rare)* — present participle and gerund of mouthe
   - Simple: Present participle of mouthe, a rare spelling of the verb mouth.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mouthing (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).