Meaning & use
ever-growing
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Continuing to increase in size, number or strength without stopping.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: an ever-growing list.
Patterns
- an ever-growing number of something
- an ever-growing list of something
She faced an ever-growing pile of paperwork on her desk.
The company serves an ever-growing number of customers.
There is an ever-growing demand for clean energy.
adjectivebefore a noun
Becoming more serious, important or widespread over time, as of a feeling or problem.
Grammar: Often used with abstract nouns such as concern or fear.
Patterns
- ever-growing concern about something
Parents voiced ever-growing concern about screen time.
His ever-growing fear kept him from sleeping.
The ever-growing popularity of the festival surprised the organizers.
Common combinations
- ever-growing list
- I have an ever-growing list of books to read.
- ever-growing number
- An ever-growing number of people work from home.
- ever-growing demand
- Hospitals face an ever-growing demand for beds.
- ever-growing concern
- Pollution is an ever-growing concern.
- ever-growing population
- The city has an ever-growing population.
Synonyms and how they differ
- increasing
- Increasing is neutral and does not stress that the growth never stops.
- mounting
- Mounting is used for problems and pressure, such as mounting debt, and sounds more negative.
- expanding
- Expanding suggests spreading out in size or scope rather than just growing in number.
- escalating
- Escalating suggests quick, often dangerous growth, as with costs or conflict.
Opposites
Word family
- grow verb
- to become bigger or more
- growth noun
- the process of increasing
- growing adjective
- increasing in size or amount
- ever-increasing adjective
- continuing to increase
- ever-changing adjective
- constantly changing
Commonly confused: ever-growing or everyone?
ever-growing vs everyone
Ever in ever-growing means always or continuously, and is not part of the pronoun everyone.
Practice
The museum receives an ___ number of visitors each year, and the building is becoming crowded.
Choose one answer.
Ever-growing means constantly increasing, which fits visitor numbers. The others are different compounds with unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ever-growing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.