Doubting

How to spell doubting

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce doubting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does doubting mean?

1. verbFeeling uncertain about something, or questioning whether it is true or reliable.

Doubting in a sentence

• She kept doubting whether the contractor would finish on time.

• There is no point in doubting his honesty without any evidence.

Where does doubting come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base word doubt comes from the Latin dubitare, which meant 'to waver, to hesitate, or to be uncertain', itself rooted in the idea of two (duo), as in being torn between two possibilities. It entered English in the 1200s through the Old French verb douter, which at that time was spelled without any letter b. The silent b was deliberately inserted by later scholars who wanted the English word to display its Latin parentage, and that artificial restoration is exactly why doubting carries a letter nobody pronounces. The same Latin root survives in the more transparent word 'dubious', which kept its visible debt to dubitare. The -ing form simply turns the verb into its ongoing participle, describing the act of holding uncertainty in mind.

How the word is built

• doubt (from Latin dubitare: to hesitate, waver)
• -ing (present participle/gerund suffix)