Word
adulting
Phoneticsadult·ing
/əˈdʌltɪŋ/
Definition
n. the act of doing grown-up tasks that are necessary but often boring, like paying bills or doing laundry. You use this word when you want to joke about how hard it is to be a responsible adult.
n. the practice of performing mundane but necessary tasks associated with adult life, such as financial management or household chores. Informal in register and often used with a self-deprecating or ironic tone.
Examples
“I did all my laundry today, so I am done with adulting.”
“After a long week of adulting, including a trip to the bank and a dental appointment, she spent the whole weekend playing video games.”
Examples
simple
“I did all my laundry today, so I am done with adulting.”
contextual
“After a long week of adulting, including a trip to the bank and a dental appointment, she spent the whole weekend playing video games.”
Usage
Often used as a gerund to describe the general activity of being a responsible adult.
Real-World Examples
“The word ‘adulting’ or ‘adulting’ describes behaving in a way that’s typical of an adult – particularly doing boring, mundane tasks.” “Adulting to me is being able to provide for yourself and being able to provide for other people.” “Adulting. It was nominated as the word of the year by the American Dialect Society, a word coined by a generation that has been shielded from the worst of growing up by living in their parents’ homes, and shut out of the best of it by a society that forces them to stay there.” “Adulting, according to Fogarty, is “acting like an adult or engaging in activities.” Etymology
From adult + -ing, a 21st-century coinage for the performance of grown-up responsibilities.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/adulting