Raving

How to spell raving

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce raving

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does raving mean?

1. adjectiveTalking or behaving in a wild, frenzied, or delirious way.
2. adjectiveExpressing or receiving extravagant, glowing enthusiasm.

Raving in a sentence

• The patient was raving with fever and could not be calmed.

• The new bistro earned raving reviews from every food critic in town.

• The raving crowd outside the stadium shouted nonsense at passers-by.

• After the first concert she became a raving fan of the band.

Where does raving come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grows from the verb 'rave', which appeared in English around 1400 meaning to show signs of madness or delirium. English borrowed it from Old French raver, a variant of resver, which meant to wander about, to prowl, or to behave madly and talk deliriously. The exact root of that Old French verb is genuinely uncertain, though it is the same ancestor that gave modern French rêver, 'to dream', so the idea of a mind drifting away from reality runs through the whole family. Adding the ordinary present-participle ending '-ing' produced 'raving', first describing someone in a frenzied or delirious state and later softening into a lively word for extravagant enthusiasm, as in glowing or 'raving' praise. The spelling trap is small but real: the silent 'e' of 'rave' is dropped before '-ing', so it is 'raving', never 'raveing'.

How the word is built

• rave (to speak wildly)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)