Word.ws English Dictionary

lengthening

Syllables: length·en·ingUK/ˈlɛŋ(k)θənɪŋ//ˈlɛŋ(k)θənɪŋ/

lengthening noun: the process of making or growing longer. Also the present participle and gerund of lengthen.

Noun

lengthening (plural lengthenings)

  1. The process of making or growing longer.
    • This enabled an additional 15-20 containers to be carried per train, giving a 20% productivity gain, and was partly enabled by Network Rail completing the lengthening of loops on the route northwards from Southampton via Banbury.2021 September 22, “National Rail Awards 2021: Train Lengthening”, in RAIL, number 940, page 56
  2. a type of sound change when a sound (especially a vowel) lengthens

Also used as

lengthening is also the present participle and gerund of lengthen.

Forms of lengthening

plurallengthenings

Origin of lengthening

From lengthen + -ing.

Words formed from lengthening

Phrases with lengthening

Words that rhyme with lengthening

Questions about lengthening

What does lengthening mean?
Lengthening means the process of making or growing longer.
What part of speech is lengthening?
Lengthening is a noun.
How do you pronounce lengthening?
Lengthening is pronounced /ˈlɛŋ(k)θənɪŋ/ (UK).
What is the plural of lengthening?
The plural of lengthening is lengthenings.

Words near lengthening in the dictionary

  1. lengthened up
  2. lengthener
  3. lengtheners
  4. lengthenest
  5. lengtheneth
  6. lengthening
  7. lengthening down
  8. lengthening out
  9. lengthening up
  10. lengthenings
  11. lengthens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lengthening (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-lengthening.wav.

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