rioting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of riot.

   Workers were rioting in the square when the troops arrived.

   Rioting spread from the docks into the neighboring streets.

   Note

   One form does two jobs. After a form of be it carries the verb in progress (crowds were rioting), and standing alone as a gerund it names the activity (rioting broke out). Behind it sits an older, now obsolete use of riot for unrestrained excess in feasting and luxury. In older writing, then, rioting can mean revelry rather than street disorder.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   An outbreak of violent public disorder caused by an unruly crowd.

   The rioting that followed the match left several shopfronts in ruins.

   Authorities declared a state of emergency once the rioting reached the financial district.

   Similarviolence, unrest, disorder, mayhem, looting

   Note

   Here the -ing form has hardened into a true noun, one that can be counted: separate outbreaks are riotings. It also appears with the, as in the rioting that followed the match, where it sits close to the verb's gerund. A useful test: if a riot or riots could replace it, the noun is at work; if only the act of rioting fits, it is the gerund.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2