observing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of observe.

   Observing the night sky for hours, the children counted dozens of stars.

   The inspector kept observing the crew to be sure they followed every rule.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every meaning of observe, and the object decides which one. Observing the night sky is watching it. Observing a holiday is keeping it, and observing the rules is obeying them. Used without an object, it can also mean remarking aloud. The same spelling also serves as the noun for the act and the adjective meaning "observant", so check whether it is doing a verb's work.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of paying close attention to something in order to notice or study it.

   Patient observing of the tides allowed the sailors to plan their voyage.

   The naturalist's quiet observing revealed habits no one had recorded before.

   Similarobservation, watching, study

   Note

   A noun that takes a plural, and philosophers make good use of that. Gilbert Ryle's The Concept of Mind sets observings beside perceivings, detectings and knowings, treating each act of attention as a separate, countable event. In ordinary prose, observation usually does this work. Observings is the choice when the stress falls on the act of watching itself, not on what it found.

3. 3
   adjective

   Quick to notice details and inclined to pay careful attention to what is happening.

   The observing detective caught the one detail that cracked the case.

   A keenly observing reader will spot the clues hidden in early chapters.

   Similarobservant, perceptive, attentive, alert

   Oppositeinattentive, unobservant

Showing meanings only. Show all 3