borrowing

bor·row·ing
B3O1R1R1O1W4I1N1G2
/ˈbɔrəwɪŋ/

verb

Shoplifting.

“She is borrowing my pen.”

Similar
CommonScrabble 15

Meanings

verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of borrow

    She is borrowing my pen.

  2. euphemisticslangcrimeShoplifting.
nounborrowing (countable and uncountable, plural borrowings)

plural borrowings

  1. countableuncountableAn instance of something being borrowed.

    January 1834, Horace Binney, Speech on the Question of the Removal of the Deposites Subscriptions, borrowings of money, taxings of the citizens and their property, may all be valid, as operations by virtue of laws for the government of the City […]

  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA borrowed word, adopted from a foreign language; loanword.

    Whilst you would be forgiven for thinking this statement comes straight from the latest UKIP manifesto, it is in fact a quotation from The Anglish Moot, a fan-page promoting the use of the 'Anglish' language — that is, English with all foreign borrowings stripped away.

    2017 March 25, Lili Bidwell, “Anglish: A Brexiteer’s lingua franca?”, in The Cambridge Student, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2021

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe appropriation (of ideas or words etc.) from another source

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

borrowing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrowing

MLA

“borrowing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrowing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “borrowing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrowing.

Source: borrowing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.