groping
/ˈɡɹoʊpɪŋ/
adjective
Familiar
1.adj.acting with uncertainty or hesitance or lack of confidence
“a groping effort to understand”
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groping and growing differ by a single letter, buried far enough into the word to be easy to miss. groping means “acting with uncertainty or hesitance or lack of confidence”. growing means “(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level”. growing is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈɡɹoʊpɪŋ/
1.adj.acting with uncertainty or hesitance or lack of confidence
“a groping effort to understand”
/ˈɡɹoʊɪŋ/
| groping | growing | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈɡɹoʊpɪŋ/ | /ˈɡɹoʊɪŋ/ |
| Said | GROH-ping | GROH-ing |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| Letters | 7 | 7 |
| Parts of speech | adjective | noun, adjective |
| Senses | 1 | 3 |
| How common | Familiar | Core |
| Synonyms | none recorded | growth, maturation, development |
Full entry for groping · Full entry for growing · More comparisons
1.n.(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level
“he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children”
2.n.(electronics) the production of (semiconductor) crystals by slow crystallization from the molten state
3.adj.relating to or suitable for growth
“the growing season for corn”