driving
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Operating a motor vehicle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dryvingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɹaɪvɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The action of the verb to drive in any sense.
In particular, the action of operating a motor vehicle.
adjective
That drives forcefully; strong; forceful; violent (of wind, rain, etc)
That drives (a mechanism or process).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The action of the verb to drive in any sense.
Used this way, driving is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- dynamic , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Operate or control a vehicle.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The operator of a motor vehicle.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The axle of a self-propelled vehicle that provides the driving power.
A belt that carries motion from a motor to the machinery.
The act of applying force to propel something.
The long iron with the most nearly vertical face.
A license authorizing the bearer to drive a motor vehicle.
A license authorizing the bearer to drive a motor vehicle.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Mechanism that transmits power from the engine to the driving wheels of a motor vehicle.
Mechanism that transmits power from the engine to the driving wheels of a motor vehicle.
Approach while driving.
A well made by driving a tube into the earth to a stratum that bears water.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: the verb to drive in any sense
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.