blooming

[bloo-ming]

adjective

1. in bloom; flowering; blossoming.

2. glowing, as with youthful vigor and freshness.

   blooming cheeks.

3. flourishing; prospering.

   a blooming business.

4. Chiefly British Slang.,  (used as an intensifier).

   He's got his blooming nerve.

adverb

1. Chiefly British Slang.,  (used as an intensifier).

   not blooming likely.

blooming

/ ˈbluːmɪŋ /

adverb

1. informal,  (intensifier)

   a blooming genius

   blooming painful

Other Word Forms

• bloomingly adverb
• bloomingness noun
• nonblooming adjective
• preblooming adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of blooming¹

1350–1400; Middle English; bloom ¹, -ing ²; as intensifier, a euphemism for bloody, by phonetic similarity

Word History and Origins

Origin of blooming¹

C19: euphemistic for _bloody

Example Sentences

Now, Sac City sports 70 blooming creations, including entries from the Red Hats women’s group, the sheriff’s office—and the police.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But in the early 1920s, Ecke’s son, horticulturalist Paul Ecke Sr., learned a secret way to create a compact single-stemmed plant with many blooming branches that could be grown in pots indoors.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They formed a long line at the door of Ashton Place that stretched the full length of the curved driveway, past the formal gardens and the blooming daffodils, and onto the grassy lawn.

Read more on Literature

“And now that it is spring, imagine that there are pretty tulips blooming as well, so that all your friends might come for a garden party and admire them.”

Read more on Literature

From there you’re welcome to poke about the selection of ready-to-wear pieces while in the back is the shoe space which includes a Jennifer Steinkamp video installation of a digital garden filled with blooming flowers.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• budding 
• flourishing