belonging
Syllables: be·long·ingUK/bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ//bɪˈlɔŋɪŋ/
belonging noun: the feeling that one belongs. Also the present participle and gerund of belong.
Noun
belonging (countable and uncountable, plural belongings)
- The feeling that one belongs.
- I have a feeling of belonging in London.
- A need for belonging seems fundamental to humans.
- Something physical that is owned.
- Make sure you take all your belongings when you leave.
- […] Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Synonyms:
- possession, thing
- Family; relations; household.
- When Lady Kew said Sic volo, sic jubeo [Thus I will, thus I command], I promise you few persons of her ladyship’s belongings stopped, before they did her biddings, to ask her reasons.1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], chapter XXXIII, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and...
- As soon as the principal personages were seated, the verandah of the house was filled silently by the muffled-up forms of Lakamba’s female belongings.1896, Joseph Conrad, chapter III, in An Outcast of the Islands, London: T. Fisher Unwin […], →OCLC, part II, page 121
Also used as
belonging is also the present participle and gerund of belong.
Examples of belonging in a sentence
- In the little houses the tenant people sifted their belongings and the belongings of their fathers and of their grandfathers.1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 9, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 88:
- Now, upstairs, she changed into faded Levis and a green sweater, and fastened round her wrist her third most valued belonging, a gold watch […]1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, published 1992, Part I, p. 22:
Synonyms of belonging
Forms of belonging
| plural | belongings |
|---|
Origin of belonging
From belong + -ing.
From Middle English belonginge, belanging, belangand, equivalent to belong + -ing.
Words formed from belonging
Words that rhyme with belonging
Questions about belonging
- What does belonging mean?
- Belonging means the feeling that one belongs.
- How do you use belonging in a sentence?
- In the little houses the tenant people sifted their belongings and the belongings of their fathers and of their grandfathers.
- What part of speech is belonging?
- Belonging is a noun.
- How do you pronounce belonging?
- Belonging is pronounced /bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of belonging?
- The plural of belonging is belongings.
Words near belonging in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: belonging (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-belonging.ogg.
Cite this entry: “belonging.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/belonging. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.