Word.ws English Dictionary

taking a liking to

taking a liking to is the present participle and gerund of take a liking to.

Meaning of take a liking to

Verb

take a liking to (third-person singular simple present takes a liking to, present participle taking a liking to, simple past took a liking to, past participle taken a liking to)

  1. (idiomatic) To develop a fondness for; to become infatuated with.
    • He met casually with this Polly once in company, and taking a liking to her, makes it worth her while to keep entirely to him.1748, John Cleland, Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, page 33
    Synonyms:
    take a shine to

Questions about taking a liking to

What is taking a liking to the present participle and gerund of?
Taking a liking to is the present participle and gerund of take a liking to.

Words near taking a liking to in the dictionary

  1. taking a joke
  2. taking a knee
  3. taking a knife to a gunfight
  4. taking a leaf out of someone's book
  5. taking a licking and keeping on ticking
  6. taking a liking to
  7. taking a listen
  8. taking a load off
  9. taking a long walk off a short pier
  10. taking a long walk on a short pier
  11. taking a look

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taking a liking to (page history and authors); take a liking to (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: “taking a liking to.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taking_a_liking_to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.