Showing results for "waiting"

• present participle of wait.

waiting

American  

[way-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

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Etymology

Origin of waiting

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

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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

"They were waiting for instructions, and those instructions didn't come," she said.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

“They clearly had been keeping this latest charge in their back pocket, waiting to use it before his prior NSL sentence ran out,” Kellogg said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

He is staying on the sidelines for now and waiting to see how things shake out.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

I love serving them over rice with whatever vegetables I have waiting in the freezer, perhaps some steamed edamame, corn and shredded cabbage.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

Surely the Japanese wouldn’t dare strike when there are so many forces waiting for them.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

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