Word.ws English Dictionary

essaying

essaying is the present participle and gerund of essay.

Meaning of essay

Verb

essay (third-person singular simple present essays, present participle essaying, simple past and past participle essayed)

  1. (dated, transitive) To attempt or try.
    • Shall we essay a walk on the promenade?
  2. (intransitive) To move forth, as into battle.

See all 6 meanings of essay

Noun

essaying (plural essayings)

  1. An attempt; a try.
    • The dialogue most sweet
      Is a glad mother's converse with her child,
      When first he makes his essayings at speech.a. 1858, Charles Boner, Mother and Child

Forms of essaying

pluralessayings

Questions about essaying

What does essaying mean?
Essaying means an attempt; a try.
What is essaying the present participle and gerund of?
Essaying is the present participle and gerund of essay.
What part of speech is essaying?
Essaying is a noun.
What is the plural of essaying?
The plural of essaying is essayings.

Words near essaying in the dictionary

  1. essayeth
  2. essayette
  3. essayettes
  4. essayic
  5. essayical
  6. essaying
  7. essayings
  8. essayish
  9. essayism
  10. essayist
  11. essayistic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: essaying (page history and authors); essay (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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Cite this entry: “essaying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/essaying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.