doubting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of doubt.

   He was doubting the accuracy of the report by the end of the meeting.

   Doubting the witness, the jury asked for additional evidence.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. As a participle it builds progressive tenses (was doubting) and opening clauses (Doubting the witness, …). As a gerund it acts as a noun (Doubting is natural). It carries every meaning of doubt, including an archaic one, to anticipate with dread. Once it describes a temperament, as in a doubting look, it has become the adjective.

2. 2
   adjective

   Full of doubt; inclined to question or distrust rather than accept something as true.

   His doubting expression made it clear he wasn't convinced by the excuse.

   A doubting investor rarely commits funds without solid proof.

   Similarskeptical, doubtful, dubious, incredulous, distrustful

   Oppositetrusting, credulous, convinced

   Note

   This adjective is gradable, taking very, more and most, and it can take of before what is distrusted. Guy Champniss and Fernando Rodes Vila call critics "very doubting of brand and firm behaviour" (2011). It also sits inside the fixed phrase doubting Thomas, which George Warwick Deeping plays on in Smith (1932): Keir "would have been more doubting than a doubting Thomas."

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A state or condition of doubt; a lingering uncertainty about what to believe or trust.

   Years of doubting slowly wore away at their friendship.

   His endless doubting left no room for trust between the partners.

   Similarsuspicion, uncertainty, distrust, mistrust, skepticism

   Oppositetrust, faith, certainty

   Note

   The noun readily takes a plural, and the plural carries much of its character. Walter Marshall in 1811 pictures a believer "overwhelmed with doubtings," and Thomas Hardy in 1902 speaks of one "past doubtings all." The plural suggests repeated waverings rather than a single objection. Beside the plainer doubt, it keeps the sense of an activity still going on.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3