Meaning & use
manicuring
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“manicuring” is a form of “manicure”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
Present participle of manicure: caring for and shaping fingernails and hands, usually by trimming, filing and polishing.
Grammar: Takes an object when you name the nails: manicuring her nails.
Patterns
- manicuring someone's nails
- manicuring your hands
She spent the evening manicuring her nails before the wedding.
The salon is busy with staff manicuring clients' hands all day.
He was manicuring his thumbnail with a small file.
verbtransitivefigurative
Trimming and shaping something such as a lawn or hedge until it looks very neat.
Grammar: Takes an object: manicuring the lawn.
Patterns
- manicuring a lawn
- manicuring a garden
The gardener was manicuring the hedges into perfect squares.
They spend every weekend manicuring the lawn.
He is manicuring the bushes ahead of the village contest.
Word forms
| base form | manicure |
|---|---|
| third person singular | manicures |
| past tense | manicured |
Common combinations
- manicuring her nails
- She was manicuring her nails at the table.
- manicuring a lawn
- He enjoys manicuring a lawn until it looks perfect.
- manicuring hedges
- The gardener is manicuring hedges in the park.
- busy manicuring
- The staff were busy manicuring clients.
- spend time manicuring
- She spends time manicuring her garden each spring.
Synonyms and how they differ
- grooming
- Grooming covers any care of appearance, while manicuring is limited to hands, nails or neat plants.
- trimming
- Trimming only means cutting back, and manicuring suggests careful shaping.
- polishing
- Polishing is the final step of making nails shiny and is one part of manicuring.
- pruning
- Pruning is cutting back plants for health, not for neat appearance.
Opposites
Word family
- manicure noun
- a treatment for the nails
- manicure verb
- to care for the nails
- manicurist noun
- a person who does manicures
- manicured adjective
- neat and well kept
- pedicure noun
- a similar treatment for the feet
Commonly confused: manicuring or pedicuring?
manicuring vs pedicuring
Pedicuring is the same care applied to toenails and feet, not to hands.
Practice
She sat on the balcony, ___ her nails with a soft file.
Choose one answer.
Manicuring is the care of fingernails. Pedicuring is for feet, mowing is for grass, and pruning is for plants.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “manicuring”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.