strengthening

Other forms of strengthening

plural

strengthenings·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about strengthening

What does strengthening mean?

strengthening means "becoming stronger". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in strengthening?

strengthening has 3 syllables: streng-the-ning. The stress falls on "streng". In IPA it is /ˈstɹɛŋθənɪŋ/.

What is the opposite of strengthening?

The recorded antonyms are weakening, weakening.

Is strengthening a common word?

strengthening is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.