present participle

[ prez-uhnt pahr-tuh-sip-uhl ]

noun

1. Grammar. a participle, in English having the suffix -ing, that expresses repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in the growing weeds and the setting sun, and also in forming progressive verb constructions, as in The weeds are growing and The sun was setting.

present participle

noun

1. a participial form of verbs used adjectivally when the action it describes is contemporaneous with that of the main verb of a sentence and also used in the formation of certain compound tenses. In English this form ends in -ing Compare gerund

Word History and Origins

Origin of present participle¹

First recorded in 1700–10