ensuing

1. 1
   adjective

   Following as a result of some earlier event: describing the actions and consequences that come afterward.

   The factory explosion and the ensuing evacuation dominated the news for days.

   Her sudden resignation sparked an ensuing scramble to find a replacement.

   Similarsubsequent, following, resulting, consequent, succeeding

   Oppositepreceding, prior, previous

   Note

   An adjective that does not grade. An event either follows from another or it does not, so 'more ensuing' and 'most ensuing' are not used. It usually sits before its noun with the definite article, as in the ensuing train wreck or the ensuing evacuation, and points back to the event just named. Placed after the noun, as in the chaos ensuing, the word is the verb's participle instead.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of ensue.

   The referee's decision was controversial, with heated protests ensuing on the field.

   The factory closed without warning, financial hardship ensuing for hundreds of workers.

   Note

   The participle of a verb that today takes no object: protests ensue and hardship ensues, but nothing is ensued. That was not always so. Ensue once meant to follow a leader or an inclination, or to come after something in time, and both uses took a direct object. Both are now obsolete. Placed before a noun, the form becomes the adjective meaning 'resulting'.

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