rewarding
Americanadjective
-
affording satisfaction, valuable experience, or the like; worthwhile.
-
affording financial or material gain; profitable.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- quasi-rewarding adjective
- rewardingly adverb
- unrewarding adjective
Etymology
Origin of rewarding
Explanation
Things that satisfy you or make you happy are rewarding. Even if you love to learn, the most rewarding part of going to school for many of us is making good friends. The word reward is obvious when you look at the adjective rewarding, and rewarding things do give you a kind of reward. Rather than cash for finding a neighbor's lost cat, though, the reward you get from something rewarding is pleasure or satisfaction. Watching a great movie is rewarding, and so is doing something kind for another person. You might even get lucky and have a rewarding career, or even a rewarding life.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But for those with an ear for knotty structures that sometimes feel like puzzle pieces, taking in the whole of the record is rewarding, even fun.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
Just taking notes of how I want to incorporate certain things in my show or how I want to move, or the things I might need, it’s all been very rewarding.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
The result is immediate, vivid, and complete in its own way, asking for minutes instead of hours—and rewarding you anyway.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
He describes being a single parent as his "greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase" of his life.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
I stomped off to the kitchen house, where I could hear the rats already at the manioc, rewarding my spite.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
