growing
Americanadjective
-
becoming greater in quantity, size, extent, or intensity.
growing discontent among industrial workers.
-
having or showing life.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of growing
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English growende. See grow, -ing 2
Explanation
A growing thing (or person) is in the process of developing, often by getting bigger. You can argue for a second helping of cake by saying, "I'm a growing kid!" Your puppy is a growing animal, changing and developing into an adult dog, and your cactus is a growing plant, even if the only evidence of that growth is one pink bloom each year. You can also use this adjective for things that increase, like your growing bank account or your growing interest in woodworking. As a noun, growing means the biological process of change and development itself: "Growing isn't always easy, but we all have to do it."
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.
In many cases, people taking GLP-1 drugs have reported that their hair begins growing again several months after their weight stabilizes.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Moreover, Europe would be hard-pressed to substitute for the southbound trade once heralded by Nafta, with an economy growing at half the pace of America’s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
“Something I really never thought I’d get to do growing up. It’s a really unique honor, and I’m really thankful I can be out there and play ball.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026
There is now a growing understanding of the need for respiratory protections and decontamination to help prevent certain cancers that are more common for firefighters.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
An image was growing in his mind of what he might see when the door slid back.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
