giving

/ˈɡɪvɪŋ/

giving is the present participle and gerund of give.

Adjective

giving (comparative more giving, superlative most giving)

Having the tendency to give; generous.
- To become like Christ involves everything else: becoming a loving and giving person, having confidence enabling you to be vulnerable (psychologically and physically; Jesus did both), having the wisdom to see people's needs and the desire to meet them.1984, Jeff Sargent, net.flame, 26 Mar 1984
(slang) Awesome, outstanding, radiating, stunning; exceeding expectations. (Probably derived from earlier transitive use of give (“give off [a certain vibe or appearance]”), as in this outfit gives ‘college girl’, that one is giving ‘old Hollywood’.)
- Your outfit is giving!
- There were lots of statement nail moments at the 2022 MTV VMA‘s, and Latto‘s metallic french tip manicure was one of them. [see title]2022 August 29, Stixx M, “Latto's French Chrome Manicure Was "Giving" at the MTV VMAs”, in Hypebae

giving (plural givings)

The act of bestowing as a gift; a conferring or imparting.
A gift; a benefaction.
- his gains were sure, His givings rare1717, Alexander Pope, The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC
The act of softening, breaking, or yielding.
- [U]pon the first giving of the weather.1710 December 3 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Joseph Addison], “Wednesday, November 23, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 254; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The...

give (third-person singular simple present gives, present participle giving, simple past gave, past participle given)

(ditransitive) To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).
- I gave him my coat.
Antonyms:

get, obtain, receive, take
(ditransitive) To make a present or gift of.
- I'm going to give my wife a necklace for her birthday.
(ditransitive) To pledge.
- I gave him my word that I'd protect his children.
(ditransitive) To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford.
- I gave them permission to miss tomorrow's class.
(ditransitive) To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in (the specified person, or the target, audience, etc.).
- It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here tonight.
(ditransitive, slang, transitive) To give off (a certain vibe or appearance). (Compare giving.)
- it's giving old Hollywood (vibes)

By surface analysis, give + -ing.

167 more phrasesFewer phrases

What does giving mean?: Giving means having the tendency to give; generous.
What is giving the present participle and gerund of?: Giving is the present participle and gerund of give.
What part of speech is giving?: Giving can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce giving?: Giving is pronounced /ˈɡɪvɪŋ/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving (page history and authors); give (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-giving.ogg.

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