Applying

How to spell applying

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce applying

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does applying mean?

1. verbSubmitting a formal request, typically for a job, place, or grant.
2. verbSpreading or putting a substance onto a surface.
3. verbPutting a rule, method, or principle into practical use.

Applying in a sentence

• She is applying for a senior accounting role this week.

• She is applying a second coat of primer to the door frame.

• The auditor is applying the new tax rules to last year's accounts.

• Thousands of students are applying to the same university.

• The nurse was applying a clean dressing to the wound.

• They kept applying the same flawed method to every project.

Where does applying come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb 'apply', which English took from the Old French 'aplier' in the 1300s, itself descended from the Latin 'applicare', meaning 'to attach to' or 'to join to'. That Latin verb combined the prefix 'ad-' (to, toward), which softened to 'ap-' before the 'p', with 'plicare', meaning 'to fold' or 'to bend'; the same 'plicare' root surfaces in words like 'reply', 'complicate' and 'pliable'. The literal image was of folding or bending one thing onto another, which is why we still speak of applying paint to a wall or applying a rule to a case. The sense of submitting a formal request grew from the idea of directing or attaching one's effort toward a goal. The spelling trap is that 'apply' keeps the doubled 'p' from the assimilated Latin prefix, and the final 'y' shifts to 'i' before the '-ing' ending.

How the word is built

• ap- (variant of ad-: to, toward)
• ply (from Latin plicare: to fold or bend)
• -ing (present participle suffix)