Trending means being talked about by a great many people right now. Trending on social media, a trending topic, trending upwards.
The measure is acceleration rather than volume — a topic trends when mentions rise fast, so a small subject growing quickly can beat a large steady one. In statistics, trending means moving in a direction over time, which is the older and plainer sense.
1adjectivetrendingBeing talked about by a great many people right now.
“The singer's name was trending online within an hour of the announcement.”
trending is a state of attention.
Trend plus -ing, from Old English trendan, to turn or roll. The sense of a general direction came in the nineteenth century.
Old English
trendan — to roll about, turn, revolve
Middle English
trenden — to roll about, turn, revolve
English
trend
English, today
trending
From trend + -ing. trend comes from Middle English trenden (“to roll about, turn, revolve”), from Old English trendan (“to roll about, turn, revolve”). From Middle English trenden (“to roll about, turn, revolve”), from Old English trendan (“to roll about, turn, revolve”), from Proto-West Germanic trandijan (“to turn, roll, revolve”), apparently derived from a strong verb Proto-West Germanic trindan. Cognate with Dutch trent (“circumference”). Akin to Old English trinde (“ball”), Old English tryndel (“circle, ring”). More at trindle, trundle.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA