Showing results for "belonging"

• present participle of belong.

belonging

American  

[bih-lawng-ing, -long-] / bɪˈlɔŋ ɪŋ, -ˈlɒŋ- /

noun

• belongings
  plural

1. 

   something that belongs.

2. belongings, possessions; goods; personal effects.

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belonging British  

/ bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ /

noun

1. secure relationship; affinity (esp in the phrase a sense of belonging )

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbelonging
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• belongings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of belonging

First recorded in 1595–1605; belong + -ing ¹

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Explanation

Belonging is a sense of fitting in or feeling like you are an important member of a group. A really close family gives each of its members a strong sense of belonging. When you belong, you are an official part of a group ("She belongs to the French club") or you're compatible with certain people or suited to a specific place ("I just belong in nature"). A feeling of belonging describes this sense of truly fitting or meshing, especially with friends, family members, or other sympathetic folks.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

belonging belongings

He lives with his wife and their three children, aged four, seven and eight, in a flat belonging to the Madrid regional government's social housing agency that they occupy without authorisation.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Regional tensions remained elevated after Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said a building belonging to Saudi Aramco in Dhahran was targeted Tuesday evening.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Most of these finds were identified as belonging to known species named from neighboring South Africa.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Earlier this year, he was acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to a number of sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Nobody was around but Snowbell, the white cat belonging to Mrs. Little.

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White

In August 2026, actress and singer Rumer Willis packed her belongings to begin a new chapter in Nashville.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

She said she packed up her belongings and moved back in with her parents in Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and now spends her days catching up on sleep and eating with relatives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Security footage allegedly shows a man believed to be the suspect entering the hotel with the woman and leaving alone with her belongings.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

She told detectives she left the puppy at a park because it had been annoying her boyfriend by biting on his shoes and belongings, according to department spokesperson Natalie Garcia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

It was littered with belongings: brass beds, chairs, kitchen tables, pots and pans, cribs, and piles of clothes.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

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