welcoming

1. 1
   adjective

   Hospitable and easy to approach, treating guests and newcomers with warmth and friendliness.

   Like a host who opens the door wide and pulls out a chair before you even ask.

   The hotel staff were friendly and welcoming, greeting each guest by name.

   A welcoming atmosphere made the small café popular with travelers.

   Similarhospitable, friendly, warm, inviting

   Oppositeunfriendly, inhospitable, hostile, cold

   Note

   A true adjective rather than a verb form, and comparison shows it: a place can be more welcoming, or the most welcoming in town. It takes no object (a welcoming café, staff who were welcoming), whereas the participle needs someone or something being welcomed. If a phrase accepts more or most in front, it is this sense.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of welcome.

   The town is welcoming families displaced by the flood.

   Welcoming visitors warmly is part of her daily routine.

   Note

   The verb form carries both of welcome's verb meanings: greeting an arrival (welcoming the delegates) and gladly accepting something (welcoming the decision). It goes back to Middle English welcomyng. With be it builds progressive tenses, and as a gerund it acts as a noun while still taking an object. In both uses it differs from the adjective, which takes no object and can be compared.

   The council is welcoming the decision to reopen the library.

   Welcoming the new students took most of the morning.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of greeting or receiving someone with warmth and friendliness as they arrive.

   The formal welcoming of the delegates opened the conference.

   Her gracious welcoming of every visitor set the tone for the evening.

   Similarreception, greeting

   Note

   Unlike the gerund, the noun can be counted and takes articles: a welcoming, two welcomings, the formal welcoming of the delegates. The person received follows of, whereas the verb form takes a direct object, as in welcoming the delegates. Reach for the noun when you mean a particular occasion of greeting rather than the ongoing activity.

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