waiting

American  

[wey-ting] / ˈweɪ tɪŋ /

noun

1. a period of waiting; pause, interval, or delay.

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adjective

1. serving or being in attendance.

   waiting man;

   waiting maid;

   waiting woman.

idioms

1. in waiting, in attendance, as upon a royal personage.

Other Word Forms

• waitingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of waiting

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English (noun); wait, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Example Sentences

Hollie M, 13, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, had been on the waiting list for three years while Hollie B, 12, from Bangor, County Down, was on the urgent transplant list for just 24 hours.

From BBC

"I feel every day is still the 7 October. We didn't pass the 7 October, but we are strong, and we're waiting for him. We do whatever we need," says Itzik Gvili, Ran's father.

From BBC

Are you waiting for mortgage rates to come down before you sell?

From The Wall Street Journal

And yet, some of the most reliable improvements in cooking come not from doing more, but from waiting.

From Salon

“I don’t know if he was waiting for somebody, but he spent at least one hour just standing there.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accessible
• apt
• handy
• qualified
• ripe