ensuing
Americanadjective
adjective
-
following subsequently or in order
-
following or occurring as a consequence; resulting
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ensuing
Explanation
If you go snowboarding in a leotard, prepare for an ensuing cold. Ensuing means "coming right after, or as a result of something that happened." Ensuing is the adjective form of the verb ensue, which comes from the Old French ensuivre, which means "following in." We usually use it to show cause and effect. Blame your entrepreneurial friend who takes bets in the lunchroom for the ensuing crackdown on employee gambling. An ensuing event happens right after its cause. If a dog bites you when you're eight, and twenty years later you start having nightmares about dog bites, those aren't ensuing nightmares. They're surfacing memories.
Vocabulary lists containing ensuing
I, Robot
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"Say It with Flowers" and "The Journey"
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Outcasts United
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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.
Damian McKenzie made a clean break which almost put in Will Jordan, and while the Boks killed the ball from the ensuing breakdown, Eben Etzebeth got up to spoil New Zealand's five-metre line-out.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
When hostilities spread across the Atlantic, Englishmen in North America referred to the ensuing conflagration as King William’s War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
That tragedy and the ensuing trauma was, naturally, the framework for the documentary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
In 2017 researchers coined the term orthosomnia to describe the tendency to chase perfect scores with sleep tracking and the ensuing sleep problems, distress, and anxiety from not receiving a perfect score.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
In London and Paris in the ensuing months, they could keep their eyes open for KGB trails and interview the Russian spy at length.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
