questioning
Syllables: ques·tion·ing/ˈkwɛs.t͡ʃə.nɪŋ//ˈkwɛʃ.tə.nɪŋ/
questioning noun: the action of asking questions; a survey; an inquiry. Also the present participle and gerund of question.
Noun
questioning (countable and uncountable, plural questionings)
- The action of asking questions; a survey; an inquiry.
- I didn’t know much about medical supplies, so I took the list Docc handed me without much questioning.2018, Megan DeVos, Anarchy, Orion, →ISBN
- The act of challenging, wondering, and doubting.
- Interrogation.
- The official Central News agency said a Nationalist patrol boat Dec. 28 captured six Communist spies disguised as fishermen as they approached within 1,000 yards of the Paichuan in a motorized fishing craft. They were taken to Matsu for questioning.1955 December 31, “Chiang Says Time Near For Mainland Uprising”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Atlantic edition, volume 48, number 31, Boston, sourced from Associated Press, Taipei, Formosa...
Adjective
questioning (not generally comparable, comparative more questioning, superlative most questioning)
- Characterized by questions, inquisitiveness, doubt, or wonder; quizzical.
- Why do you have a questioning look? Are you puzzled about something?
- Unsure of one's sexual orientation or gender identity.
- We entertain the boy and it becomes more evident that his dad is trans and he is questioning; my coworker keeps frowning about it.2020 February 4, “Transitioning To Some New Protocols”, in Not Always Right, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2021
- Girls broadly fared worse than boys, and there is “ongoing and extreme distress” among teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning (LGBQ+).2023 February 13, Deidre McPhillips, “Teens, especially girls, are experiencing more violence, suicidal thoughts and mental health challenges, CDC survey finds”, in CNN
Also used as
questioning is also the present participle and gerund of question.
questioning meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
questioning in Hindi
- action of asking questions; a survey or inquiry
- पूछताछ pūchtāch
questioning in Tamil
- கேள்வி எழுப்புதல்
questioning in Telugu
- ప్రశ్నించడం
questioning in Malayalam
- ചോദ്യം ചെയ്യൽ
More languagesFewer languages
- questioning in Kannada
- ಪ್ರಶ್ನಿಸುವುದು
- questioning in Punjabi
- ਪੁੱਛ-ਗਿੱਛ
Examples of questioning in a sentence
- My friends and I saw a soldier questioning a man holding a bag with a gun in his pocket.
- Questioning the decision would definitely open a can of worms.
- The police took him away for questioning.
Forms of questioning
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | questionings |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more questioning |
| superlative | most questioning |
Origin of questioning
From question + -ing (noun via Middle English questionyng).
Words formed from questioning
Phrases with questioning
Questions about questioning
- What does questioning mean?
- Questioning means the action of asking questions; a survey; an inquiry.
- What is questioning in Hindi?
- Questioning in Hindi is पूछताछ (pūchtāch). See Questioning meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is questioning?
- Questioning can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce questioning?
- Questioning is pronounced /ˈkwɛs.t͡ʃə.nɪŋ/.
- What is the plural of questioning?
- The plural of questioning is questionings.
Words near questioning in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: questioning (page history and authors); questioning (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); questioning (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); questioning (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); questioning (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); questioning (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-questioning.ogg.
Cite this entry: “questioning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/questioning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.