Word.ws English Dictionary

testing the waters

testing the waters is the present participle and gerund of test the waters.

Meaning of test the waters

Verb

test the waters (third-person singular simple present tests the waters, present participle testing the waters, simple past and past participle tested the waters)

  1. (idiomatic) To explore or probe, as before making a commitment.
    • Taking classes in a subject is a good way to test the waters and explore a potential career.

Questions about testing the waters

What is testing the waters the present participle and gerund of?
Testing the waters is the present participle and gerund of test the waters.

Words near testing the waters in the dictionary

  1. testing ground
  2. testing out
  3. testing someone's patience
  4. testing testing
  5. testing the water
  6. testing the waters
  7. testing, testing
  8. testingly
  9. testings
  10. testiole
  11. testioles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: testing the waters (page history and authors); test the waters (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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