-ing — English Dictionary

Suffix

1. Used to form nouns or noun-like words (or elements of noun phrases) from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action. As true nouns.

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Examples

   My hearing is not good.

   I have had several meetings with him.

2. Used to form nouns or noun-like words (or elements of noun phrases) from verbs, denoting the act of doing something, an action, or the embodiment of an action. As gerunds.

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Examples

   Smoking marijuana cigarettes daily is bad for your health.

   She has a habit of sleeping late.

   More examples (2)

   I like meeting people.

   There's no escaping the fact that the bodywork needs painting.

3. Used to form nouns denoting materials or systems of objects which are used or employed in an action, or considered collectively.

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Examples

   Roofing is material that is used to roof.

   Clothing is material with which one is clothed.

   More examples (1)

   The piping is a system of pipes considered collectively.

Suffix

1. Used to form present participles of verbs.

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Examples

   Rolling stones gather no moss.

   My new cabin, which is going to look over the lake, is getting a brand new roof this winter.

   More examples (8)

   I wondered what time the play was starting.

   Anybody touching this wire will get a deadly shock.

   When it occurred, I was flying to New York a great deal.

   We were boogieing from midnight until three o’clock in the morning.

   It's a very creative job, allowing us a great deal of latitude.

   Refusing to apologise, I stormed out the room. I'm regretting doing such a stupid thing already.

   I was listening to music while I was driving here.

   a. 2001, Brian Hall, “Beej's Guide to Network Programming”, “Using Internet Sockets” If you are connect()ing to a remote machine […] you can simply call connect(), it'll check to see if the socket is unworthy, and will bind() it to an unused local port if necessary.

Suffix

1. Forming derivative nouns (originally masculine), with the sense ‘son of, belonging to’, as in placenames, patronymics or diminutives; -ite.

   Usage

   • idiomatic
   • morpheme

   Related words

   -ed

   Examples

   Ealing, Dorking, Reading, Worthing

   Browning, Channing, Ewing

   More examples (3)

   Middle English *bunt + -ing → bunting

   skill + -ing → shilling

   fourth + -ing → farthing

2. Forming nouns having a specified quality, characteristic, or nature; of the kind of

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Examples

   sweet + -ing → sweeting

   white + -ing → whiting

   More examples (1)

   geld + -ing → gelding