concerning

Pluralconcernings

1. 1
   preposition

   Used before a noun phrase to mark the subject something relates to; about or regarding.

   The committee released a statement concerning the recent budget cuts.

   He refused to answer any questions concerning his past.

   Similarabout, regarding, respecting, on

   Note

   A participle long since settled into a preposition: the King James Bible of 1611 already has "The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." It works in two positions. After a noun it narrows the topic (questions concerning his past). At the head of a sentence it announces one (Concerning your mental state, you have some problems), usually set off by a comma.

2. 2
   adjective

   Causing worry or unease; giving reason for concern.

   Doctors found the patient's symptoms increasingly concerning.

   The report raised several concerning trends in air quality.

   Similarworrying, troubling, disturbing, alarming, worrisome

   Oppositereassuring, encouraging, comforting, heartening

   Note

   The adjective grew straight out of the verb concern in its sense of making someone worried: what concerns you, worries you. It grades like any adjective (very concerning, more concerning, most concerning), and that helps tell it from the preposition meaning "about". Concerning trends are worrying ones. Questions concerning the trends are simply about them. If very or more fits in front, you have the adjective.

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of concern.

   He spent years concerning himself with the welfare of the poor.

   There is no point concerning yourself with things you cannot change.

   Note

   The true verb form, and the one that takes an object. It is most often reflexive, as in concerning himself with the welfare of the poor. That use draws on the verb's sense of engaging someone's feeling or interest. As a gerund it acts like a noun (no point concerning yourself). Neither the adjective nor the preposition can take a reflexive pronoun, so himself or yourself after it marks the verb.

4. 4
   noun

   The matter that one is involved in; one's own affairs or business.

   We shall write to you, / As Time and our Concernings shall importune, / How it goes with us, and do look to know / What doth befall you here.

   c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”

   Similaraffair, business, matter

   Note

   A noun that comes naturally in the plural. Shakespeare's Measure for Measure has "As Time and our Concernings shall importune," where a departing ruler promises to write as his affairs allow. The plural concernings means a person's business taken as a whole: the many matters that press on attention and compete for time.

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