Word.ws English Dictionary

expectorating

expectorating is the present participle and gerund of expectorate.

Meaning of expectorate

Verb

expectorate (third-person singular simple present expectorates, present participle expectorating, simple past and past participle expectorated)

  1. (ambitransitive) To cough up fluid from the lungs.
    • These rules are equally applicable to pneumonia and perhaps also to bronchitis. It will, therefore, be best to call them, not rules for consumptives, but for all persons who cough and expectorate .1893, Popular Science Monthly (ed.), Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 42 (Jan 1893) — Notes
  2. (ambitransitive) To spit.

Questions about expectorating

What is expectorating the present participle and gerund of?
Expectorating is the present participle and gerund of expectorate.

Words near expectorating in the dictionary

  1. expectorant
  2. expectorants
  3. expectorate
  4. expectorated
  5. expectorates
  6. expectorating
  7. expectoration
  8. expectorations
  9. expectorative
  10. expectoratives
  11. expectorator

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: expectorating (page history and authors); expectorate (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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