dusting

noun

dust·​ing ˈdə-stiŋ 

plural dustings

1

: the act of making something clean by brushing or wiping away dirt and dust from the surface

The furniture needs a good dusting.

2

a

: a small amount of something that falls or is sprinkled over a surface

During summer, the cracked floor looks prehistoric under the desert sun; during winter, it's intermittently covered by sheets of ice and dustings of snow.

—Joseph Stromberg

Add pearl onions, mushrooms, and a dusting of marjoram.

—Hali Ramdene

b

: a faint or slight quality or amount

… sporting a dusting of stubble, DiSpirito runs Union Pacific, a paragon of gilded, inventive Manhattan dining.

—James Poniewozik

Examples of dusting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No air purifier can completely purify your home air, so taking other steps like regularly vacuuming, mopping, and dusting is equally important.3 4. —Daniel More, Verywell Health, 26 Mar. 2025

But spring cleaning doesn’t just entail dusting and vacuuming. —Mia Huelsbeck, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025

Between 4000 and 6000 feet a dusting to up to 3 inches. —Southern California Weather Report, Orange County Register, 6 Mar. 2025

In the metro, a dusting to 2 inches of snow is possible, while areas across extreme northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri could be blanketed in 2 to 4 inches of snow. —Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 4 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1681, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dusting

• busting
• crusting
• gusting
• lusting
• rusting
• thrusting
• trusting
• adjusting
• disgusting
• distrusting
• encrusting
• entrusting