constructing

Pluralconstructings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of construct.

   Workers are constructing the tunnel in three shifts around the clock.

   She enjoys constructing elaborate arguments in her essays.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every verbal sense of construct: workers constructing a tunnel, a writer constructing an argument, a student constructing a geometric figure with ruler and compass. After be it forms the progressive (they are constructing); as a gerund it behaves like a noun yet still takes a direct object (constructing arguments), which is how it differs from the countable noun.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An act of construction.

   The constructing of the canal employed thousands of laborers over a decade.

   A careful constructing of the timeline helped the jury follow the events.

   Similarconstruction, building, creation, assembly

   Oppositedemolition, destruction

   Note

   Here the -ing form has become a full noun, unlike the verbal gerund. It takes an article and links to its object with of (the constructing of the canal), and it has a plural, constructings. Constructing a timeline is the verb at work, while a careful constructing of the timeline is the noun, so the choice between them is a matter of grammar rather than meaning.

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