Word.ws English Dictionary

founding

Syllables: foun·ding/ˈfaʊ̯ndiŋ/UK/ˈfaʊ̯ndɪŋ/

founding is the present participle and gerund of found.

Meaning of found

Verb (1)

found (third-person singular simple present founds, present participle founding, simple past and past participle founded)

  1. (transitive) To start (an institution or organization).
    • “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
    Synonyms:
    establish
  2. (transitive) To begin building.
  3. (transitive) To use as a foundation; to base.
    • Being left alone with him after they had dined, he obſerved, that however ſtrongly he was convinced of Zeluco’s being the writer of the letter, yet as he had had the precaution to diſguiſe his hand-writing, it would be fruitleſs to found any legal proſecution upon that circumſtance.1789 May 27, [John Moore], chapter XXII, in Zeluco. Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic., volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell...

Verb (2)

found (third-person singular simple present founds, present participle founding, simple past and past participle founded)

  1. (transitive) To melt, especially of metal or glass in an industrial setting.
  2. (transitive) To form by melting a metal and pouring it into a mould; to cast.
    • Whereof to found their engines.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

See all 8 meanings of found

Noun

founding (plural foundings)

  1. The establishment of something.
    • the founding of the republic
    • Do foundings of transnational organizations appear to spur foundings of national organizations, or vice versa?2005, Donatella Della Porta, Sidney G. Tarrow, Transnational Protest and Global Activism

Adjective

founding (not comparable)

  1. Who or that founds (establishes or starts) or founded.
    • the founding fathers of our country

Forms of founding

pluralfoundings

Words formed from founding

Phrases with founding

Words that rhyme with founding

Questions about founding

What does founding mean?
Founding means the establishment of something.
What is founding the present participle and gerund of?
Founding is the present participle and gerund of found.
What part of speech is founding?
Founding can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce founding?
Founding is pronounced /ˈfaʊ̯ndɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of founding?
The plural of founding is foundings.

Words near founding in the dictionary

  1. foundest
  2. foundeth
  3. foundherentism
  4. foundherentist
  5. foundherentists
  6. founding
  7. founding father
  8. founding fathers
  9. founding member
  10. founding members
  11. founding mother

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: founding (page history and authors); found (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)-Persent101-founding.wav.

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