Demonstrating

How to spell demonstrating

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce demonstrating

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does demonstrating mean?

1. verbShowing clearly how something works, or proving something by example or evidence.
2. verbTaking part in a public protest or rally to express an opinion.

Demonstrating in a sentence

• The engineer spent the morning demonstrating how the new software handled large files.

• Crowds were demonstrating outside the town hall against the proposed road closure.

• By demonstrating the recipe step by step, the chef made it easy to follow.

• Students spent the afternoon demonstrating peacefully in the city square.

Where does demonstrating come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb demonstrare, which meant 'to point out clearly' or 'to show fully', formed from the intensifying prefix de- and monstrare, meaning 'to show' or 'to point at'. That root monstrare came from monstrum, a sign or portent, something shown by the gods as a warning, which is also the surprising ancestor of the modern word 'monster'. English took demonstrate through Latin in the late 1500s, originally in the sense of proving something logically or showing it by example. The present participle 'demonstrating' simply adds the -ing ending to the verb stem. Knowing that the heart of the word is the Latin monstrare, 'to show', helps fix the single 's' and the 'monstr' spelling, since the same chunk appears in 'monster' and 'demonstration'.

How the word is built

• de- (fully)
• monstr (from monstrare: to show, point out)
• -ate (verb)
• -ing (present participle)