petting

34 7.1

Touching someone in a loving or sexual way, often on the body

noun
/ˈpɛtɪŋ/

NSFW

: caricia

So what I started doing was petting her and then stopping.
heavy petting
kissing and petting
light petting

And then that gets weird, you know, right, Secret petting.

Examples

But you see a bunch of people petting a cat, then what?
A dog can learn to enjoy both handling and petting through the use of classical conditioning.

Blog text (5)
So you wind up petting the pet instead of the spouse, right?
I'm on the porch of her home petting somebody's cat out there.
And the night before, Gallup was laying in my room and I started petting him and I just realized like how skinny he was.
When she is scared, she doesn't want petting, but she does huddle very close to me.

Blog text (5)
I think I literally spend about four hours a day petting Maple and I'm not exaggerating.
She enjoys petting her dog while watching TV in the evenings.
After a long day, he finds comfort in petting his cat on the sofa.
During the therapy session, gentle petting helped calm the anxious child.

Synonyms

kissing

vspetting

NSFW

100 1.0

Touching someone's lips to show love or say hello

involves more whole body touching aimed at sexual arousal than lip touch

foreplay

vspetting

NSFW

51 7.0

Physical activity before sex that makes people feel more excited and close

is narrower and means affectionate touching used specifically before sex

stroking

vspetting

4 1.6

A gentle movement of the hand over something to comfort or calm it

is used to arouse or show sexual affection rather than to comfort

fondling

vspetting

NSFW

4 9.2

To touch someone gently in a loving way, often before sex

has the same meaning but is the more common general term

smooching

vspetting

Informal

4 7.0

Kissing and cuddling in a playful or romantic way

focuses more on sexual touching and arousal than playful kissing

caressing

vspetting

1 3.9

A gentle, affectionate touch or stroke showing love

is more sexual and aims to increase arousal rather than tenderness

necking

vspetting

NSFW

1 8.2

Kissing and gentle touching in a romantic way without touching private parts

emphasizes caressing more than kissing

snogging

vspetting

NSFW

1 9.4

Kissing and cuddling in a romantic way

is broader and covers affectionate touching not only passionate kissing

Antonyms

neglect

100 3.5

Not caring for someone or something that needs care

disregard

61 4.2

Not paying attention to something on purpose

Compounds

petting zoo

18 2.8

A place where people can touch and feed gentle animals like rabbits and goats for fun and learning

How Intimate

petting

NSFW

34 7.1

fondling

NSFW

4 9.2

to caress

55 3.4

to stroke

84 1.9

to touch

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

petting singular

pettings plural

Morphology

petting = pet (transparent) = pet + ing

The noun is a gerund/nominalization formed by the productive suffix '-ing' from the verb 'pet', so the action/act meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Petting comes from the word pet, which once meant a beloved animal or 'favorite', and from the verb to pet, 'to stroke' an animal. So petting came to mean 'affectionate or romantic touching' of a person, sometimes as foreplay.