draining
/ˈdɹeɪnɪŋ/
draining is the present participle and gerund of drain.
Adjective
draining (comparative more draining, superlative most draining)
- Designed and/or used for drainage.
- The author of this experiment has constructed, and uses a draining wheel of cast iron, that weighs about 4 cwt .1834, John Johnstone, A Systematic Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Draining Land, page 136
- The mole-plough as a draining machine can never be of much utility in a country like Scotland, where alluvial deposits, though not deficient in extent, are characterized more by the abundance of stony matter than of clay in the subsoil; it is only in the few carses that such clays occur as would...1847, Henry Stephens, A Manual of practical Draining, page 128
- Causing a depletion of energy or resources; exhausting.
- I was very tired; working everyday and then staying at the hospital was very draining.2010, Lori Wharton, Tranquility and Silence, page 46
- He was in the luxurious position of not having to hunt for girls—a process he finds very draining.2017, Karin Bodewits, You Must Be Very Intelligent: The PhD Delusion, page 153
- Synonyms:
- tiresome, wearing, exhausting, exhaustive, fatiguing, grueling, tiring, weariful, wearisome, weary
Noun
draining (countable and uncountable, plural drainings)
- The practice of exploring drains, tunnels, or sewers.
- The process by which something is drained or emptied.
- The liquid drained from something.
Meaning of drain
Verb
drain (third-person singular simple present drains, present participle draining, simple past and past participle drained)
- To lose liquid.
- The clogged sink drained slowly.
- To flow gradually.
- The water of low ground drains off.
- To cause liquid to flow out of.
- Please drain the sink. It’s full of dirty water.
- Synonyms:
- bleed
- To convert a perennially wet place into a dry one.
- They had to drain the swampy land before the parking lot could be built.
- To deplete of energy or resources.
- The stress of this job is really draining me.
- To draw off by degrees; to cause to flow gradually out or off; hence, to exhaust.
- Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
Synonyms of draining
Forms of draining
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more draining |
| superlative | most draining |
| Noun | |
| plural | drainings |
Words formed from draining
Phrases with draining
Words that rhyme with draining
- training
- planing
- remaining
- waning
- aquatraining
- baning
- caning
- chaining
- complaining
- craning
- entertaining
- feigning
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about draining
- What does draining mean?
- Draining means designed and/or used for drainage.
- What is draining the present participle and gerund of?
- Draining is the present participle and gerund of drain.
- What part of speech is draining?
- Draining can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce draining?
- Draining is pronounced /ˈdɹeɪnɪŋ/.
Words near draining in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: draining (page history and authors); drain (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-draining.wav.
Cite this entry: “draining.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/draining. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.