Meaning & use
growingly
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Meaning
adverbformal
In a way that is increasing or becoming more common over time.
Grammar: Usually comes before an adjective: growingly difficult. It can also modify a whole clause.
Patterns
- growingly + adjective
- growingly + adverb
The situation has become growingly complex over the past year.
She was growingly concerned about the lack of progress.
Growingly, people are choosing to work from home.
Common combinations
- growingly difficult
- The task became growingly difficult as time went on.
- growingly popular
- The app is growingly popular among teenagers.
- growingly concerned
- Parents are growingly concerned about screen time.
- growingly aware
- The public is growingly aware of climate change.
Synonyms and how they differ
- increasingly
- The more common and usually preferred word with the same meaning; 'growingly' sounds more formal and is less frequent.
- progressively
- Suggests a steady advance step by step; 'growingly' simply means 'more and more'.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: growingly or growing?
growingly vs growing
'Growing' is an adjective or participle: a growing concern. 'Growingly' is an adverb: a growingly serious concern.
Practice
The weather became ______ unpredictable as the day went on.
Choose one answer.
We need an adverb to modify the adjective 'unpredictable', so 'growingly' is correct. 'Growing' is an adjective and cannot modify another adjective here; 'grow' is a verb and 'growth' is a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “growingly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.