Word.ws English Dictionary

blooming

UK/ˈbluː.mɪŋ/

blooming is the present participle and gerund of bloom.

Adjective

blooming (comparative more blooming, superlative most blooming)

  1. Opening in blossoms; flowering.
    Synonyms:
    blossoming, flowering, in bloom, in blossom, in flower
  2. Thriving in health, beauty, and vigor, vigour; indicating the freshness and beauties of youth or health.
  3. (Australia, Ireland, UK) A euphemism for the intensifier bloody.
    • “How'd you like to be shoved in a blooming log?'1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 54

Noun

blooming (countable and uncountable, plural bloomings)

  1. The act by which something blooms.
    • Such bloomings, Dr. McLaren continued, would require a critical audience, “so that they can be subject to scientific and ethical review, freely available for research and one day, perhaps, for treating diseases.”2007 July 23, Jeremy Pearce, “Anne McLaren, 80, Expert on the Embryo, Is Dead”, in New York Times
  2. The process of making blooms from the ore or from cast iron.
  3. A phenomenon where excessive light causes bright patches in a picture.

Meaning of bloom

Verb

bloom (third-person singular simple present blooms, present participle blooming, simple past and past participle bloomed)

  1. (transitive) To cause to blossom; to make flourish.
    • Charitable affection bloomed them.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
  2. (transitive) To bestow a bloom upon; to make blooming or radiant.
    • The Tree of Life[…]blooming Ambrosial Fruit Of vegetable Gold.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. (intransitive) Of a plant, to produce blooms; to open its blooms.
    • A flower which once / In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, / Began to bloom.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    Synonyms:
    blossom, flower
  4. (figuratively, intransitive) To spread; to slowly expand like a field of flowers that blossom in fits and spurts.
    • Shadows bloomed over the yard.
  5. (figuratively, intransitive) Of a person, business, etc, to flourish; to be in a state of healthful, growing youth and vigour; to show beauty and freshness.
    • Nurse Cramer had a cute nose and a radiant, blooming complexion dotted with fetching sprays of adorable freckles that Yossarian detested.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171
  6. To bring out the flavor of a spice by cooking it in oil.

See all 34 meanings of bloom

Adverb

blooming (comparative more blooming, superlative most blooming)

  1. (Australia, UK, often) A euphemism for the intensifier bloody.
    • My train's late again. Blooming typical.
    • ‘You give me twelve bob a foot, an’ I’ll bloomin’ quick show you whether I can bore or not.’1911, ‘Steel Rudd’, The Book of Dan, Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, published 1970, page 1

Synonyms of blooming

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of blooming

Adjective
comparativemore blooming
superlativemost blooming
Adverb
comparativemore blooming
superlativemost blooming
Noun
pluralbloomings

Origin of blooming

By surface analysis, bloom + -ing.

Words formed from blooming

Phrases with blooming

Words that rhyme with blooming

Questions about blooming

What does blooming mean?
Blooming means opening in blossoms; flowering.
What is blooming the present participle and gerund of?
Blooming is the present participle and gerund of bloom.
What part of speech is blooming?
Blooming can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun.
How do you pronounce blooming?
Blooming is pronounced /ˈbluː.mɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near blooming in the dictionary

  1. Bloomie's
  2. bloomier
  3. bloomiest
  4. bloomin'
  5. bloominess
  6. blooming
  7. blooming heck
  8. blooming hell
  9. blooming onion
  10. blooming onions
  11. Bloomingburg

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blooming (page history and authors); bloom (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-blooming.ogg.

Cite this entry: “blooming.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blooming. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.