- present participle of tax.
taxing
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of taxing
Explanation
Taxing things are stressful and difficult. Climbing a mountain is taxing, and so is spending an entire day babysitting an unruly toddler. Things that are taxing wear you out, either physically or mentally (or both). You may think of physical jobs like construction work as the most taxing kind of employment, until you realize how emotionally taxing it would be to care for sick patients as a nurse, or how mentally taxing you might find working as an accountant. This adjective comes from the verb tax, which means "to put a strain on."
Vocabulary lists containing taxing
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Taxing buildings and land together at the same rate discourages precisely the activity cities most need, namely new construction and redevelopment.
From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026
Taxing selected UPFs could help support subsidies for healthier options, particularly for low-income households.
From Science Daily • Nov. 24, 2025
Taxing wealth—or some proxy for it—has some historic precedent: England in 1696 attempted to establish a progressive tax regime based on the number of windows in a home.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
Taxing worldwide income would mean taxing BP and Shell on profits made in places like the US, activities they will have paid US tax on already.
From BBC • May 11, 2022
Dear Mabel!—Yet to-day thy brothers came, Taxing me harshly, and in cruel terms, With practising against thy precious life.
From Poems by Cassels, Walter Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
