Word.ws English Dictionary

doing one's own thing

doing one's own thing is the present participle and gerund of do one's own thing.

Meaning of do one's own thing

Verb

do one's own thing (third-person singular simple present does one's own thing, present participle doing one's own thing, simple past did one's own thing, past participle done one's own thing)

  1. (dated, idiomatic, informal, possibly) To do what one considers to be best suited or most satisfying for oneself; to do what expresses one's distinctive interests or talents; to do as one chooses.
    • The psychological patter of the '70s is as inescapable as Muzak and just as numbing: Are you relating? Going through heavy changes? In touch with yourself and doing your own thing?1977 October 3, “Behavior: Psychobabble”, in Time, retrieved 08 Dec 2019
    Synonyms:
    suit oneself

Questions about doing one's own thing

What is doing one's own thing the present participle and gerund of?
Doing one's own thing is the present participle and gerund of do one's own thing.

Words near doing one's own thing in the dictionary

  1. doing one's duty
  2. doing one's ease
  3. doing one's easement
  4. doing one's homework
  5. doing one's job
  6. doing one's own thing
  7. doing one's own time
  8. doing one's part
  9. doing one's stuff
  10. doing one's sums
  11. doing one's thing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doing one's own thing (page history and authors); do one's own thing (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.

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