Adjusting

How to spell adjusting

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce adjusting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adjusting mean?

1. verbMaking small changes to something so that it fits, works better, or is more correct or comfortable.

Adjusting in a sentence

• She spent the morning adjusting the office chair until her back stopped aching.

• The accountant is adjusting the figures to reflect the late invoice.

Where does adjusting come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the present-participle form of the verb adjust, which came into English in the early 1600s from the French ajuster, meaning to make something fit or to put things in order. The French verb traces back to the Old French ajoster and ultimately to a Vulgar Latin verb adiuxtare, built from ad, meaning to or towards, and iuxta, meaning near or close beside; the literal idea was to bring two things close together so they fit. Along the way the spelling was reshaped by association with the Latin justus, meaning right or proper, which is why we see the j and the sense of setting something correctly. The same iuxta root survives in the everyday word juxtapose, where two things are placed side by side. The spelling trap is simply the buried d after the a and the single s; the word sounds like 'a-justing' but keeps the d that links it back to ad.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, towards)
• just (from Latin iuxta: near, close, later associated with justus: right, proper)
• -ing (suffix forming the present participle and gerund)