present participle

[ prez-uhnt pahr-tuh-sip-uhl ]

noun
  1. Grammar. a participle, in English having the suffix -ing, that expresses repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in thegrowingweeds and thesettingsun, and also in forming progressive verb constructions, as in The weeds aregrowing and The sun wassetting.

Origin of present participle

1
First recorded in 1700–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for present participle

present participle

noun
  1. a participial form of verbs used adjectivally when the action it describes is contemporaneous with that of the main verb of a sentence and also used in the formation of certain compound tenses. In English this form ends in -ing: Compare gerund

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