What does stripping mean?
Stripping is the English word for removing a covering, surface layer, clothing, or possessions. As a noun, it names that process: a worker may be engaged in stripping wallpaper, while a performance described as stripping may involve removing clothes. As a participial verb, it can mean removing something from a person or thing, including formally depriving someone of an advantage or possession. The word also has an informal extended sense of moving at very high speed, as in a car that was stripping along the road. These meanings share an image of removing a surface or taking something away, though the figurative and motor senses are less literal. In general writing, stripping is clear and neutral, but references to undressing can sound suggestive depending on context. Knowing its range helps readers understand both practical language about paint, clothing, and equipment and more vivid descriptions of speed or loss.
The act or process of removing a covering, surface layer, clothing, or possessions from a person or thing.
"The stripping of the old wallpaper revealed some beautiful plasterwork."
Often uncountable, especially when referring to a process. The plural strippings is uncommon.
To remove a covering, surface layer, clothing, or possessions; to deprive someone of something; or informally, to move at very high speed.
"The thief spent the night stripping the warehouse of anything he could carry."
The high-speed sense is informal and normally used in the continuous form, as in stripping down the highway.
Rare and normally referring to separate quantities or pieces removed during a process; the singular noun is usually uncountable.
"The floor was covered in strippings of old varnish."
From bare timber to a bare title, stripping is the art of taking something away.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of stripping
The word is formed from strip by adding -ing, with the gerund and present-participle form taking on a nominal use for the activity of removing coverings. Strip is recorded in Middle English and continues Old English stripan, within a Germanic family of words associated with removing a covering or surface. The related derivative stripper belongs to the same base, although the word can have several distinct meanings.
Related word forms
How stripping is actually used
The literal and process-related senses are generally neutral. A reference to undressing can be suggestive depending on context, while stripping someone of possessions is formal and usually negative. The high-speed sense is informal and especially associated with vehicles.
Easily confused with stripping
A stripe is a long, narrow band or mark, whereas stripping is the act of removing a covering, surface, clothing, or possessions.