What does "prototyping" mean?

The rapid creation of prototypes of a new product for demonstration and research purposes.

What is a synonym for "prototyping"?

Common synonyms include: aesthetic form, analogue, ancestor, antecedent, antetype, antitype.

Pronounced //ˈpɹəʊtətaɪpɪŋ//.

//ˈpɹəʊtətaɪpɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The rapid creation of prototypes of a new product for demonstration and research purposes. uncountable
"■ A Design and Build Contract for the design, software development, prototyping, factory testing, integration testing, installation, static and dynamic testing and commissioning of the TDS."

Verb

1
present participle and gerund of prototype form-of, gerund, participle, present

"Tom is an expert at prototyping."

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.