Advancing

How to spell advancing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce advancing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does advancing mean?

1. verbMoving forward, making progress, or putting something ahead.
2. adjectiveIncreasing or progressing, especially with age or development.

Advancing in a sentence

• verb

  The troops were advancing steadily toward the river.

• adjective

  His advancing age made the long flights harder to manage.

• verb

  She is advancing quickly through the ranks of the company.

• adjective

  The doctor noted the advancing stage of the illness.

Where does advancing come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows from the verb advance, which English took from the Old French avancer, meaning 'to move forward'. That French verb traces back to the Late Latin abantiare, built on the phrase abante, literally 'from before', combining ab ('from') with ante ('before'). The puzzling detail is the letter d: the original word had none, and the spelling avance became advance only in the 1500s, when writers wrongly assumed the opening came from the common Latin prefix ad- ('to'). So the d is a historical mistake that simply stuck. The -ing ending is the ordinary English participle suffix, and note that the silent final e of advance is dropped before it, which is the small spelling step worth remembering.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, toward)
• -vance (from Latin abante: from before)
• -ing (present participle suffix)