fawning
verb
Form of fawn , present participle of fawn.
Simple meaning
To show affection or try to please.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fawningSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɔnɪŋ
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.
verb
present participle of fawn
To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
present participle of fawn
To seek favour by flattery and obsequious behaviour. [with on or upon]
present participle of fawnintransitiveof a dog
To show devotion or submissiveness by wagging its tail, nuzzling, licking, etc.
present participle of fawn
To give birth to a fawn.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To exhibit affection or attempt to please.
Used this way, fawning is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
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.
A color or pigment varying around a light grey-brown color.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.