Improving is the gerund or present participle form of improve, meaning to make something better or higher in quality, extent, or performance. It describes ongoing action aimed at enhancement and progress, often used to discuss changes over time. In contexts like skills, processes, or situations, improving denotes positive development and continuous effort.
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"The team is improving its defense, reducing goals against and increasing ball control."
"She is improving her pronunciation by practicing daily with recordings."
"We’re improving the software to fix bugs and speed up performance."
"His reading is improving, and he now finishes books in half the time."
Improving derives from the verb improve, which comes from the Old English improviuian, a back-formation from the Latin improbare? No; actual lineage traces to Old French empevour, and later Middle English improve, from Old English in- (not a negation here) + proffian? The commonly cited root is Latin meliorare ‘to make better’ via Old French emprover or amellorier, but the precise historical trajectory is complex. The modern form improve appears in Middle English as improveren and elsewhere, gradually cementing into improve and its present participle improving. The sense development reflects a shift from making something morally better or more sound to making something quantitatively or qualitatively better in function, efficiency, or appearance. First known use in English appears by the 13th century with senses tied to making improvements to property or methods, expanding in the 16th–18th centuries to refer to skill and performance enhancement, and by the 19th–20th centuries to ongoing developmental processes in science, technology, and daily life.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "improving" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "improving" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "improving"
-ing sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronounced /ɪmˈpruː.vɪŋ/ in US and UK. The main stress falls on the second syllable: im-PROV-ing. Start with a short /ɪ/ from words like it, glide into /m/ with closed lips, then /ˈpruː/ with a rounded, tall back vowel and tight lip rounding, followed by /v/ and the final /ɪŋ/ (like 'ing' in king). In connected speech, link from the /ɪ/ to the /m/ and keep the /ˈpruː/ as a single strong beat.
Common errors: (1) Placing stress on the first syllable (IM-pr oving) rather than the second; (2) Mispronouncing the /ˈpruː/ cluster, making it /prəˈvɪŋ/ or /ˈe-pruː/; (3) Not releasing the final -ing as /ɪŋ/; keep it nasal and short. Correction: emphasize the second syllable with a clear /ˈpruː/; ensure the /ɪŋ/ is a short, nasal sound and not a vocalized “ing” as in ‘ping’. Practicing the vowel length in /uː/ helps precision.
US/UK/AU share /ɪmˈpruːvɪŋ/ but vowel tallness and rhoticity color the sound. US often has rhotic influence in adjacent words; UK may be slightly crisper on /ˈpruː/ with shorter tensing; AU often features a more centralized or broader vowel in some speakers but retains /ˈpruː/. The final syllable /ɪŋ/ remains consistent. In connected speech, US tends to link more after /ɪ/ leading into /m/; UK and AU show subtle vowel quality differences in preconsonantal contexts.
Key challenges: coordinating the two-stress pattern (secondary stress in -ing? not stressed) and producing the /pr/ cluster smoothly. The /uː/ is a long rounded vowel that can bleed into /ʊ/ if you’re uncertain; ensure your lips round and retract enough for /uː/. The final /ɪŋ/ demands a clear nasal with a quick tongue retraction. Mastering the transition from /m/ to /ˈpruː/ is critical for naturalness.
The prefix im- is not standalone here; /ɪ-/ links to the root sound start. In 'improving', the initial /ɪ/ is short and unstressed in the word’s overall rhythm; most learners don’t articulate a separate syllable for ‘im-’ when saying the word in fluent speech. Focus on the combined onset /mˈpruː/ after the initial /ɪ/, and ensure you don’t add extra vowel in the prefix.
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