Word.ws English Dictionary

leaning in

leaning in is the present participle and gerund of lean in.

Meaning of lean in

Verb

lean in (third-person singular simple present leans in, present participle leaning in, simple past and past participle leaned in or leant in)

  1. To shift one's weight forward; to lean forward or towards something.
  2. (figuratively) To proactively take charge of a situation; to be bold in exerting one's will in a situation.
    • We need to find a way for women to not drop out, but to lean in to their careers and give them the flexibility they need to stay in the workforce.2011, Sheryl Sandberg, Forrestal Lecture at the United States Naval Academy.
  3. (figuratively) To continue or strengthen a reaction in the face of criticism or disappointment; to redouble efforts despite setbacks and uncertainty from others.

Questions about leaning in

What is leaning in the present participle and gerund of?
Leaning in is the present participle and gerund of lean in.

Words near leaning in in the dictionary

  1. Leanid
  2. leanin'
  3. leaning
  4. leaning board
  5. leaning boards
  6. leaning in
  7. leaning into
  8. leaning on
  9. leaning over backwards
  10. leaning toothpick syndrome
  11. leaning towards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaning in (page history and authors); lean in (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: “leaning in.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/leaning_in. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.