Word.ws English Dictionary

worsting

worsting is the present participle and gerund of worst.

Meaning of worst

Verb

worst (third-person singular simple present worsts, present participle worsting, simple past and past participle worsted)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To make worse.
  2. (dated, intransitive) To grow worse; to deteriorate.
    • Anne haggard, Mary coarse, every face in the neighbourhood worsting.1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as...
  3. (rare) To outdo or defeat, especially in battle.
    • The […] Philistines were worsted by the captivated ark.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

See all 9 meanings of worst

Questions about worsting

What is worsting the present participle and gerund of?
Worsting is the present participle and gerund of worst.

Words near worsting in the dictionary

  1. Worster-Drought
  2. Worster-Drought syndrome
  3. Worsters
  4. worstest
  5. worstestest
  6. worsting
  7. worstly
  8. worstness
  9. worsts
  10. Worswick
  11. wort

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: worsting (page history and authors); worst (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: “worsting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/worsting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.