offering
Pluralofferings
Pluralofferings
- 1Something put forward for sale, bid, or otherwise presented for others to take or consider.
The cafe added a vegan offering to the menu after months of requests.
Investors crowded in to grab a piece of the company's latest stock offering.
UsageOften plural for a whole range: the menu's offerings, this season's offerings.
Similaroption, product, issue, proposal
Note
In Caryn Franklin's Franklin on Fashion (1996), vinyl, PVC and lycra appear "among the most unlikely designer offerings." In finance it pairs with stock or share: a stock offering puts securities up for purchase.
- 2Present participle and gerund of offer.
The company is offering discounts to new customers this month.
By offering an apology, he hoped to repair the friendship.
UsageOne r: offering (not
incorrect: offerring). Meaning volunteering, it takes to + verb: offering to help.Note
The -ing form keeps a single r because offer is stressed on its first syllable, so the spellings are offering and offered, never offerring. Like the base verb, it takes a direct object, as in "offering services" in Oliver Burkeman's 2013 piece in The Guardian Weekly. When it means volunteering, it takes a to-infinitive instead (offering to help). Only the noun has a plural, offerings.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Oliver Burkeman used “offering services” in a piece published in The Guardian Weekly in 2013. en.wiktionary.org
- 3Something presented to a god or higher power as an act of worship or devotion, such as a sacrifice or gift laid at an altar.
The family left an offering of grain and wine at the temple steps.
On the high holy days, the priests prepared offerings for the altar fire.
UsagePeople make or leave an offering, usually an offering of something to a god.
Note
Here the word names the thing given up, not the giving: grain, wine, or an animal laid on the altar. Sacrifice is its closest synonym in this use. Offering leans toward the idea of a gift, while sacrifice leans toward the idea of something surrendered. The same word can also name the religious act of presenting such a gift, as in a ceremony of offering.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Religious offerings can include grain, wine and animals. en.wikipedia.org
Less common meanings
- 4A contribution, usually of money, given by worshippers during a religious service.
The congregation's offering that morning paid for the new roof.
Volunteers counted the offerings collected across all three services.
UsageOften the offering, one collection at a service: ushers collect or take up the offering.
Similarcollection, donation, contribution
- 5The act or process by which something is presented or put forward.
The early offering of a fair price made the rest of the deal easy to settle.
The quick offering of help to the flood victims showed how much the town cared.
UsageUsually the offering of something: the offering of help. With the object straight after (offering help), it is the verb.
Note
The noun of action behind the other senses, formed from offer plus -ing. It names the presenting itself rather than the thing presented, and it is uncountable here. It usually takes of: the offering of help, the offering of a fair price. With the object straight after it, as in offering help, the word is the verb.
Showing meanings only.
offering is a form of offer
offer, verb: To present something to view, or to provide it for use or consideration. Full entry
- Spelling
- offer → offering: add -ing
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of offering apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Formed from the verb "offer" combined with the suffix "-ing."
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Offering is formed from the verb offer and the suffix -ing. en.wiktionary.org