looking
Syllables: look·ing/ˈlʊkɪŋ/
looking verb: as the last part of compound adjectives: relating to or having the appearance of. Also the present participle and gerund of look.
Verb
looking
- as the last part of compound adjectives: relating to or having the appearance of.
- dorky-looking
- By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court
Noun
looking (plural lookings)
- The act of one who looks; a glance.
- A complicated interplay of lookings and viewings is in play. The staging and performance of the photograph, then, is as much the subject of the photograph as the ostensible subjects […]2005, Felix Driver, Luciana Martins, Tropical Visions in an Age of Empire, page 162
Also used as
looking is also the present participle and gerund of look.
Forms of looking
| plural | lookings |
|---|
Origin of looking
From Middle English lokynge, from earlier lokinde, lokende, from Old English lōciende, present participle of Old English lōcian (“to look”), equivalent to look + -ing.
From Middle English lokynge, lokinge, from Old English lōcung (attested in Old English þurhlōcung), equivalent to look + -ing.
Words formed from looking
Phrases with looking
- looking at
- looking in
- looking it
- looking on
- looking to
- looking up
- looking for
- looking off
- looking out
- looking shy
- good looking
- looking away
69 more phrasesFewer phrases
- looking back
- looking down
- looking into
- looking like
- looking over
- looking past
- looking upon
- looking after
- looking ahead
- looking alike
- looking alive
- looking in on
- looking on as
- looking round
- looking up to
- weird looking
- looking around
- looking beyond
- looking lively
- looking snappy
- looking daggers
- looking down on
- looking forward
- looking glasses
- looking through
- looking a fright
- looking ahead to
- looking the part
- looking down upon
- looking one's age
- looking forward to
- looking one's best
- looking for trouble
- looking in the face
- looking under rocks
- looking up and down
- what am I looking at
- I'm looking for a job
- looking right through
- looking the other way
- looking for number one
- looking down one's nose
- looking out for someone
- looking before one leaps
- looking on the dark side
- looking for a dog to kick
- looking on the black side
- on the outside looking in
- through the looking glass
- looking on the bright side
- looking on the gloomy side
- looking out for number one
- looking over one's shoulder
- looking on the positive side
- looking like a bomb has hit it
- looking on the dark side of it
- solution looking for a problem
- I'm looking for a grocery store
- looking like who did it and ran
- looking at oneself in the mirror
- looking like one swallowed a bug
- looking on the bright side of it
- looking like who did it and ran away
- looking like something the cat brought in
- looking like something the cat dragged in
- looking like something the cat's dragged in
- looking as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looking as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
- looking as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards
Words that rhyme with looking
Questions about looking
- What does looking mean?
- Looking means as the last part of compound adjectives: relating to or having the appearance of.
- What part of speech is looking?
- Looking can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce looking?
- Looking is pronounced /ˈlʊkɪŋ/.
Words near looking in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: looking (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: en-us-looking.ogg.
Cite this entry: “looking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/looking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.