Meaning & use
fulfilling feeling
Last updated
Meaning
phrasecountable
a pleasant sense that what you are doing has meaning and gives you deep satisfaction
Grammar: Countable when talking about a particular instance; often used with 'a' or 'the'.
Patterns
- a fulfilling feeling
- the fulfilling feeling of something
- get a fulfilling feeling from something
After months of volunteering, she had a fulfilling feeling that her work really mattered.
There is a fulfilling feeling that comes from finishing a difficult project.
Many teachers describe a fulfilling feeling when they see a student finally understand.
Word forms
| plural | fulfilling feelings |
|---|
Common combinations
- a deep fulfilling feeling
- He felt a deep fulfilling feeling after helping his neighbor.
- a fulfilling feeling of purpose
- The job gave her a fulfilling feeling of purpose.
- experience a fulfilling feeling
- You can experience a fulfilling feeling from simple acts of kindness.
- a truly fulfilling feeling
- Caring for his garden gave him a truly fulfilling feeling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- satisfaction
- Satisfaction is more general and can come from meeting any need or expectation, while a fulfilling feeling specifically suggests deep meaning and personal growth.
- contentment
- Contentment is a quiet, peaceful happiness with what you have, whereas a fulfilling feeling often comes from actively doing something meaningful.
Opposites
Word family
- fulfill verb
- to do or achieve what is hoped for or promised
- fulfilling adjective
- making you feel happy and satisfied because it has meaning
- fulfillment noun
- the feeling of happiness and satisfaction from doing something meaningful
Commonly confused: fulfilling feeling or fulfilling feeling vs. fulfilled feeling?
fulfilling feeling vs fulfilling feeling vs. fulfilled feeling
A fulfilling feeling is the feeling that something gives you; a fulfilled feeling (less common) would mean you feel satisfied because your needs are met. The first is far more natural.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'fulfilling feeling' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase means a pleasant sense of meaning and satisfaction, so 'got a fulfilling feeling from teaching' fits. The others use it with wrong grammar or meaning: 'feeling of the cake' makes no sense, 'fulfilling feeling' is not a verb, and 'am fulfilling feeling' is not grammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fulfilling feeling”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.