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Meaning & use

eating

noun, verb, adjective·Everyday

Last updated

UK/ˈiːtɪŋ/
US/ˈiːtɪŋ/

Meanings

  1. noununcountable

    The act or habit of taking food.

    Grammar: Uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural: 'Eating well matters.'

    Patterns

    • healthy eating
    • eating habits
    • eating disorder

    Regular eating keeps your energy steady through the day.

    The doctor asked about his eating and sleeping habits.

    Clean eating has become popular among young athletes.

  2. verbtransitive or intransitive

    The -ing form of eat, used in continuous tenses and after prepositions.

    Grammar: Use it after be for ongoing action: 'She is eating.' It also follows prepositions: 'before eating'.

    Patterns

    • be eating something
    • before/after eating
    • stop eating something

    Don't call him now; he's eating dinner.

    Wash your hands before eating.

    They were eating quietly when the phone rang.

  3. adjectivebefore a noun

    Used before a noun to describe fruit that is good to eat raw rather than to cook.

    Grammar: Comes only before the noun and has no comparative form: 'eating apples'.

    Patterns

    • eating apples
    • eating pears

    These are eating apples, so don't put them in a pie.

    The shop sells both cooking and eating apples.

Common combinations

healthy eating
Healthy eating means plenty of vegetables and little sugar.
eating habits
His eating habits changed after he moved abroad.
eating disorder
She received treatment for an eating disorder.
eating out
Eating out every night gets expensive.
comfort eating
He turned to comfort eating when work got stressful.

Synonyms and how they differ

dining
More formal and suggests a meal, often a social or evening one, rather than the general act of taking food.
feeding
Focuses on giving food, especially to babies or animals, while eating is what the person does themselves.

Opposites

fasting

Word family

eat verb
To put food in your mouth and swallow it.
eater noun
A person who eats in a particular way, as in 'a picky eater'.
eatable adjective
Good enough to eat; fairly rare and mostly used in the negative.
eats noun
Informal plural noun meaning food, as in 'bring some eats'.

Commonly confused: eating or ate?

eating vs ate

Ate is the simple past of eat ('I ate lunch'), while eating is the -ing form or the noun.

Practice

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