monitoring

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The keeping of watch over an environment or group of people, observing them continuously or regularly to detect signals, movements, or changes in state or quality.

   Air-quality monitoring across the city flagged a sudden spike in pollutants.

   The job involves round-the-clock monitoring of network traffic for intrusions.

   Similarsurveillance, observation, tracking

   Note

   Mostly it works as a mass noun, taking no article: monitoring was stepped up, not a monitoring. The plural monitorings exists but is the exception. Its typical company is a noun in front naming the method or target, as in drone monitoring in Nigel Harris's 2020 piece in Rail, or air-quality and network monitoring. These compounds are hyphenated only when the first element is itself a compound.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of monitor.

   The agency is monitoring air quality across the city this summer.

   Careful monitoring of the patient revealed a steady improvement overnight.

   Note

   One -ing spelling does two jobs here: the progressive verb after a form of be (the agency is monitoring air quality) and the gerund, which still takes a direct object (monitoring air quality is costly). Once an adjective or an of-phrase appears, as in careful monitoring of the patient, the word is behaving like the noun for ongoing surveillance. Only that noun can take the plural monitorings.

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