Showing results for "waiting"

• present participle of wait.

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); see wait, -ing ¹, -ing ²

Explanation

The act of standing by without acting as you anticipate a future event or time is waiting. Waiting can be agonizing, especially waiting for something vitally important, like election results — or your birthday. The word waiting is a noun used for a kind of action that's characterized by inaction or delay: "Generations of waiting produced no change in a city's discriminatory policies, so citizens planned a protest march." It's also a useful adjective, for things like waiting rooms, waiting lists, and waiting periods. In the old days the word was also used for certain servants, lords or ladies "in waiting" who waited on their employers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

waiting

After dark, the larvae rise toward the surface to feed, although they must first pass through large numbers of fish waiting to eat them.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026

As he walked up to the door, he checked over his shoulders to see if he was being watched, and he hoped his parents would still be waiting for him inside.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Switch off an American model and a Chinese one is waiting, cheaper, downloadable and impossible to recall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Investors also might consider waiting for the rotation out of tech to end, after which “you could see a good entry point” for those stocks, said Wells Fargo’s Christopher.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026

I leaned back against the mural, becoming part of the scene, waiting for my secret fries with a smile on my face for no reason.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Related Words

• accessible
• apt
• handy
• qualified
• ripe