Word.ws English Dictionary

picking up steam

picking up steam is the present participle and gerund of pick up steam.

Meaning of pick up steam

Verb

pick up steam (third-person singular simple present picks up steam, present participle picking up steam, simple past and past participle picked up steam)

  1. Synonym of gather steam.
    Synonyms:
    gather steam

Questions about picking up steam

What is picking up steam the present participle and gerund of?
Picking up steam is the present participle and gerund of pick up steam.

Words near picking up steam in the dictionary

  1. picking through
  2. picking up
  3. picking up on
  4. picking up one's crumbs
  5. picking up one's marbles and going home
  6. picking up steam
  7. picking up stitches
  8. picking up the ball and running with it
  9. picking up the mantle
  10. picking up the pace
  11. picking up the phone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picking up steam (page history and authors); pick up steam (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: “picking up steam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/picking_up_steam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.