greeting
noun/ˈɡɹiːtɪŋ/
Etymology By surface analysis, greet + -ing.
1
A conventional phrase used to start a letter or conversation or otherwise to acknowledge a person's arrival or presence.
- It's polite to begin a letter with a greeting, but this practice is less common in email.
- Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday greetings.
1 more example
- Send my greetings to your family.
2
The action of the verb to greet.
- I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Synonyms
- accost, address, greeting, hail, salutation
- Antonyms
- farewell, valediction
- Derived terms
- greeting card, greetingless, greetingly, greetings card, nongreeting, season's greetings
- Related terms
- greet, hello, salutation