waiting
noun
Simple meaning
Staying or remaining in expectation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
waytingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈweɪtɪŋ
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 act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)
The act of staying or remaining in expectation.
Attendance, service.
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 act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)
Used this way, waiting 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
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.
Stay in one place and anticipate or expect something.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A person whose occupation is to serve at table (as in a restaurant).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A room (as in a hotel or airport) with seating where people can wait.
A strategy of delay.
A line of people or vehicles waiting for something.
A roster of those waiting to obtain something.
A room (as in a hotel or airport) with seating where people can wait.
A lady appointed to attend to a queen or princess.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.