compounding

compounding is the present participle and gerund of compound.

Noun

compounding (plural compoundings)

An accumulation of compound interest.
- the number of compoundings per year
The act of mixing or combining substances to make a compound, such as a medicine
- Arthur Pendennis, his son, was eight years old at the time of this event, so that it is no wonder that the latter, who left Bath and the surgery so young, should forget the existence of such a place almost entirely, and that his father’s hands had ever been dirtied by the compounding of odious...1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850...
The use of steam more than once in a steam engine or turbine, in additional low-pressure cylinders etc.
- Superheating, first introduced with the "Abs", stopped further development in compounding, in New Zealand as elsewhere, and the "Abs" succeeded in dealing with the growing traffic unaided for more than a decade.1954 August, J. B. Snell, “The New Zealand Government Railways—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 561

compound (third-person singular simple present compounds, present participle compounding, simple past and past participle compounded)

(transitive) To form (a resulting mixture) by combining different elements, ingredients, or parts; to mingle with something else.
- to compound a medicine
Synonyms:

admix, amalgamate, bemingle, blend, combine, commingle, intermingle, intermix, involve, mang
(transitive) To settle by agreeing on less than the claim, or on different terms than those stipulated.
- to compound a debt
Synonyms:

settle
(transitive) To settle amicably; to adjust by agreement.
- I pray, my lords, let me compound this strife.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms:

compromise
(intransitive) To come to terms of agreement; to settle by a compromise.
- to compound with someone / for something
Synonyms:

agree, accord, meet, coexist, cohere, coincide, comport, comprobate, concur, consent
(obsolete, transitive) To compose; to constitute.
- his pomp and all what state compoundsc. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms:

compose, comprise, constitute, form, indite, make up, represent, upmake
(intransitive) To increase in value with interest, where the interest is earned on both the principal sum and prior earned interest.

plural	compoundings

What does compounding mean?: Compounding means an accumulation of compound interest.
What is compounding the present participle and gerund of?: Compounding is the present participle and gerund of compound.
What part of speech is compounding?: Compounding is a noun.
What is the plural of compounding?: The plural of compounding is compoundings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: compounding (page history and authors); compound (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: 2026-09-02

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