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flagging

Other forms: flaggings; flaggingly

If something is flagging, it's worn out or weak. A flagging political campaign is running out of steam, losing the energy it needs to be successful.

If your career is flagging, it's languishing or fading — you might need to go back to school and start a new one. Flagging public support for a new school might spell the end of the project. A different kind of flagging is the sort you walk on. If your patio is made of flagging, it's paved in stones — flagstones, to be specific. The "weakened" meaning of flagging comes from an early meaning of flag, "to flap about loosely."

Definitions of flagging
  1. adjective
    weak from exhaustion
    synonyms: drooping
    tired
    depleted of strength or energy
  2. noun
    flagstones collectively
    “there was a pile of flagging waiting to be laid in place”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection
    several things grouped together or considered as a whole
  3. noun
    a walk of flagstones
    “the flagging in the garden was quite imaginative”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    paseo, walk, walkway
    a path set aside for walking
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