noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act by which someone kneels.

   "A whole symbolic sexual order is obviously manifested in kneelings as positions of subordination[…]"

2. 2
   supporting yourself on your knees wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of kneel form-of, gerund, participle, present

Synonyms

All synonyms

acceptanceacquiescenceassentbendbobbow

Example

More examples

"The religious man remained kneeling for hours."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From kneel + -ing.

Etymology 2

From Middle English knelinge, kneweling, kneolunge, equivalent to kneel + -ing.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.