- present participle of increase.
increasing
Americanadjective
-
growing larger or greater; enlarging; augmenting.
-
Mathematics. (of a function) having the property that for any two points in the domain such that one is larger than the other, the image of the larger point is greater than or equal to the image of the smaller point; nondecreasing.
Usage
What does increasing mean? Increasing is an adjective that means growing or rising—becoming greater or more in number, amount, size, or in some other way. It comes from the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb increase, which means to become greater or more in number, amount, size, or in some other way, as in Our profits will increase as demand increases. The word increased can also be used as an adjective to describe things that have risen or grown, as in an increased appetite. Example: The increasing value of the dollar.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of increasing
Explanation
Increasing means getting bigger or expanding. You'll be glad to have an increasing income, but perhaps less glad to have an increasing pants size. The adjective increasing describes anything that grows or becomes greater. Increasing volume from your neighbor's radio will drive you crazy, since it's getting louder and louder. If your tiny school attracts increasing numbers of new students, it's likely that new teachers will need to be hired. Increasing comes from the verb increase, or grow, with its Latin root word, increscere, "to grow upon, grow over, swell, or grow into."
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.
Volkswagen’s supervisory board this month approved a plan to cut 100,000 jobs and halve its model portfolio, in part due to the strain of increasing competition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Other than early rain in Scotland and northern England, most places will see increasing amounts of sunshine breaking through during the day.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
The company’s Hyve Solutions business, which provides custom hardware such as servers and networking equipment for data centers, should benefit from increasing demand for faster processing and networking, the analysts said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
In the model, increasing membrane tension also reduced their size.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
I can get only about seventy-five percent of my hair into an elastic at any given time, and messing around with bobby pins is increasing the frizz.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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.
