Word.ws English Dictionary

guarding

UK/ˈɡɑːdɪŋ//ˈɡɑɹdɪŋ/

guarding is the present participle and gerund of guard.

Noun

guarding (countable and uncountable, plural guardings)

  1. The duty of one who guards.
  2. A guardrail.
    • Guardings and balustrades should be designed to minimize the risk of wheelchair users catching their feet between balusters […]2012, James Holmes-Seidle, Barrier-Free Design, page 58
  3. Tensing of the muscles, especially of the abdomen, in order to minimise the movement and agitation to the internal inflamed organs.

Meaning of guard

Verb

guard (third-person singular simple present guards, present participle guarding, simple past and past participle guarded)

  1. (transitive) To protect from danger; to secure against surprise, attack, or injury; to keep in safety; to defend.
    • All of the mountain passes are guarded by troops.
  2. (transitive) To keep watch over, in order to prevent escape or restrain from acts of violence, or the like.
    • Guard the prisoner.
  3. (ambitransitive) To watch by way of caution or defense; to be cautious; to be in a state or position of defense or safety.
    • Careful people guard against mistakes.
  4. (transitive) To protect the edge of, especially with an ornamental border; hence, to face or ornament with lists, laces, etc.
    • The body of your discourse is sometime guarded with fragments, and the guards are but slightly basted on neither.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  5. (transitive) To fasten by binding; to gird.

See all 24 meanings of guard

Forms of guarding

pluralguardings

Words formed from guarding

Phrases with guarding

Words that rhyme with guarding

Questions about guarding

What does guarding mean?
Guarding means the duty of one who guards.
What is guarding the present participle and gerund of?
Guarding is the present participle and gerund of guard.
What part of speech is guarding?
Guarding is a noun.
How do you pronounce guarding?
Guarding is pronounced /ˈɡɑɹdɪŋ/ (US).
What is the plural of guarding?
The plural of guarding is guardings.

Words near guarding in the dictionary

  1. guardianship
  2. guardianships
  3. Guardias
  4. guardienne
  5. guardiennes
  6. guarding
  7. guarding against
  8. guarding one's tongue
  9. guarding post
  10. guarding posts
  11. guardingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guarding (page history and authors); guard (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)-Flame, not lame-guarding.wav.

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