What does shimming mean?
Shimming is an action verb and verbal noun with two principal meanings. In ordinary speech, it means moving with short, light steps, often in a stealthy or playful manner. A person who shimmies might try to cross a room without being noticed, dance with quick lateral steps, or slip quietly through a doorway. In construction and technical work, shimming means using a thin piece of material, called a shim, to adjust or support something. A carpenter may shim a door that catches on the floor, while a technician may shim a panel or cabinet to make it level. The word is useful because it captures both graceful, restrained movement and a precise mechanical adjustment. Its light-footed sense can suggest playfulness or secrecy, whereas the technical sense is practical and neutral.
To move with short, light, often stealthy steps; to insert, fit, or adjust something using a shim.
"The dancer began shimming across the stage as the music started."
The two senses are distinguished by context: movement takes the central meaning in everyday speech, while fitting or adjusting with a shim is the usual meaning in technical work.
The action of moving with short, light steps or of fitting or adjusting something with a shim.
"There was a faint shimming of feet in the corridor."
As a noun, shimming is usually uncountable in the movement sense and uncommon in technical descriptions, where shimming out or shimming up may be preferred.
This plural is rare; the uncountable form shimming is normally preferred.
"The workshop recorded the shimmings used during the installation."
Shimming has a double life: it can describe footsteps as light as a whisper or the tiny wedges that stop doors from scraping.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does shimming come from?
Shimming was formed in English by adding the present-participle suffix -ing to shim. The word shim is recorded in English by the early nineteenth century for a thin piece of material used to adjust or support something, although its earlier origin is uncertain. The verb shim also came to mean moving with short, light steps, but the precise historical development of that sense is not certain.
Related word forms
How shimming is actually used
The movement sense is common in informal speech and can suggest sneaking, dancing, or walking with a pronounced sideways sway. The mechanical sense belongs to woodworking, construction, and technical settings; it is also standard in American English as a verb form of the noun shim.
Easily confused with shimming
A shimmy is normally a dance or a side-to-side movement, whereas shimming usually means moving with short, light steps or using shims to adjust a component.