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belonging

noun
/bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ/UK/bɪˈlɔŋɪŋ/US/bɪˈlɑŋɪŋ/

Etymology

From Middle English belonginge, belanging, belangand, equivalent to belong + -ing.

  1. inherited from belonginge

Definitions

  1. The feeling that one belongs.

    • I have a feeling of belonging in London.
    • A need for belonging seems fundamental to humans.

  2. Something physical that is owned.

    • Make sure you take all your belongings when you leave.
    • […] Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.
    • In the little houses the tenant people sifted their belongings and the belongings of their fathers and of their grandfathers. Picked over their possessions for the journey to the west.

  3. Family

    Family; relations; household.

    • When Lady Kew said Sic volo, sic jubeo [Thus I will, thus I command], I promise you few persons of her ladyship’s belongings stopped, before they did her biddings, to ask her reasons.
    • As soon as the principal personages were seated, the verandah of the house was filled silently by the muffled-up forms of Lakamba’s female belongings.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. present participle and gerund of belong

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at belonging. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01belonging02owned03owner04ship05travels06travel07luggage08belongings

A definitional loop anchored at belonging. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at belonging

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA