asking
/ˈɑːskɪŋ//ˈæskɪŋ/
asking is the present participle of ask.
Noun
asking (countable and uncountable, plural askings)
- The act or process of posing a question or making a request.
- His asking was greeted with silence.
- The large eyes sought his own, as if asking for help, and yet unable to do more than look their mute asking.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Evening Alone”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 303
- A request, or petition.
- After many askings, pleadings, and episodes, all leading to nothing, she finally slumped down at the side of a well in a village where she was unknown.2005, Beth Miller, The Woman's Book of Resilience: 12 Qualities to Cultivate, page 125
- The marriage banns.
Meaning of ask
Verb
ask (third-person singular simple present asks, present participle asking, simple past and past participle asked)
- To request (information, or an answer to a question).
- I asked her age.
- To request or enquire of (a person).
- I asked her (for) her age.
- To request (an item or service) (see also ask for).
- to ask for a second helping at dinner
- To request (someone to do something).
- Emma asked Jim to close his eyes.
- To request permission (to do something).
- She asked to see the doctor.
- To put forward (a question) to be answered.
- to ask a question
Adjective
asking (comparative more asking, superlative most asking)
- That asks; that expresses a question or request.
- It was as when some great gentle dog brings in a limp and bedraggled prize dug from the yard and, laying it at one’s feet, looks up at one with soft asking eyes.1924, Edna Ferber, So Big, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, page 109
- […] all of them looked at each other in an asking way.1942, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 12, in Dust Tracks on a Road, New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, published 1969, page 235
Forms of asking
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more asking |
| superlative | most asking |
| Noun | |
| plural | askings |
Origin of asking
From Middle English askinge, askande, from Old English āsciende, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōndī, present participle of Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn (“to ask”), equivalent to ask + -ing.
From Middle English asking, askyng, askynge, from Old English āscung (“asking; question; inquiry”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiskungu, equivalent to ask + -ing.
Words formed from asking
Phrases with asking
- asking in
- asking for
- asking out
- asking back
- asking over
- asking rate
- asking after
- asking rates
- asking round
- who's asking
- asking around
- asking for it
14 more phrasesFewer phrases
- Asking Jeeves
- asking prices
- for the asking
- time of asking
- times of asking
- asking for trouble
- asking for a friend
- asking for the moon
- asking the question
- depends who's asking
- asking the impossible
- asking for someone's hand in marriage
- asking how high when someone says jump
- shooting first and asking questions later
Questions about asking
- What does asking mean?
- Asking means that asks; that expresses a question or request.
- What is asking the present participle of?
- Asking is the present participle of ask.
- What part of speech is asking?
- Asking can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce asking?
- Asking is pronounced /ˈæskɪŋ/ (US).
Words near asking in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: asking (page history and authors); ask (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-asking.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-asking.wav.
Cite this entry: “asking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/asking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.