Growing
What it means
Increasing in size, strength, number, maturity, or influence.
Reach for it when describing an upward change that is still underway
A growing network of volunteers now reaches every district.
Words to choose between 7
| playful | |
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| everyday | |
| professional |
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| formal | |
| literary |
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playful
on the upswing
Fits when informal language should mark improving momentum
Careful An upswing may be temporary and cyclical rather than sustained growth.
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everyday
developing
Fits when skills, systems, or organisms are becoming more mature
Careful Developing may involve qualitative change without an increase in size.
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everyday
rising
Fits when a level, rate, or amount is moving higher
Careful Rising can describe harmful costs and lacks growing's developmental sense.
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professional
expanding
Fits when scope, reach, or capacity is becoming broader
Careful Expansion can spread thin and does not guarantee healthy growth.
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professional
increasing
Fits when a measurable quantity is moving upward
Careful Increasing says nothing about maturity, strength, or organic development.
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formal
Fits when something is becoming visible or established for the first time
Careful Emergence can occur without continued increase.
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literary
burgeoning
Fits when rapid fresh growth deserves vivid language
Careful Burgeoning overstates a slow or uncertain increase.
Opposites 3
- shrinking
- declining
- stagnant
Common phrases 3
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growing confidence
Growing confidence allowed the apprentices to question an unsafe instruction.
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growing demand
Growing demand led the clinic to add appointments rather than shorten visits.
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growing community
The growing community protected space for long-term residents.
Word family 1
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated