rewarding
Americanadjective
-
affording satisfaction, valuable experience, or the like; worthwhile.
-
affording financial or material gain; profitable.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- quasi-rewarding adjective
- rewardingly adverb
- unrewarding adjective
Etymology
Origin of rewarding
Explanation
Things that satisfy you or make you happy are rewarding. Even if you love to learn, the most rewarding part of going to school for many of us is making good friends. The word reward is obvious when you look at the adjective rewarding, and rewarding things do give you a kind of reward. Rather than cash for finding a neighbor's lost cat, though, the reward you get from something rewarding is pleasure or satisfaction. Watching a great movie is rewarding, and so is doing something kind for another person. You might even get lucky and have a rewarding career, or even a rewarding life.
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.
They read “Anna Karenina” and “Crime and Punishment,” an experience they agree was challenging but rewarding.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
But workers may feel uneasy that investors are mostly rewarding large, public companies for pulling the layoff lever.
From Barron's • Apr. 15, 2026
Farming is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also difficult.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
Nick Yeatman, the chief executive at Trovr, added: "We want to turn everyday actions into meaningful impact; the initiative at Weston Favell brings that to life in a simple, rewarding way."
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
Hunting-gathering is not so rewarding in New Guinea as to remove the motivation to develop food production.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
