ENGLISH
REFERENCE

raising

v. · n.
US //ˈɹeɪzɪŋ// UK //ɹˈeɪzɪŋ// rais·ing
  1. 1 lifting or increasing (v.)
    A2 Elementary

    the action of moving something to a higher position or increasing a level.

    the present participle of 'raise', denoting the act of elevating an object or increasing a quantity, level, or intensity.

    Example

    The workers are raising the heavy beams to the top of the new house.

    Example

    By raising the interest rates, the central bank hopes to curb inflation and stabilise the national currency over the next fiscal quarter.

    Pitfall
    The sun is raising in the east.
    The sun is rising in the east.

    Use 'raising' when someone lifts an object; use 'rising' when something moves up by itself.

  2. 2 nurturing children or animals (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    the process of looking after children or animals while they grow up.

    the act of nurturing, breeding, or providing sustenance and protection for a living thing from birth to maturity.

    Example

    The raising of healthy children requires a lot of patience and support.

    Example

    The successful raising of livestock in such an arid climate requires sophisticated irrigation and careful land management.

Show 3 more sensesShow fewer
  1. 3 collecting money (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    the act of collecting or gathering money for a specific purpose.

    the process of soliciting or accumulating capital, typically for a charity, business venture, or political campaign.

    Example

    The charity focused on the raising of funds for the new hospital wing.

    Example

    The rapid raising of capital through private investors allowed the startup to expand its operations into international markets ahead of schedule.

  2. 4 linguistics: vowel change (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Science

    a change in a language where a vowel sound is produced with the tongue higher in the mouth.

    a phonological process or historical sound change in which a vowel becomes higher, involving a more elevated tongue position.

    Example

    The teacher explained how vowel raising changed the way people speak over centuries.

    Example

    The Great Vowel Shift involved the raising of long vowels, fundamentally altering the phonetic landscape of Middle English.

  3. 5 linguistics: moving a word (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Science

    moving a word from a small part of a sentence to the main part.

    a syntactic operation where an element from a subordinate clause is moved into a higher position in the matrix clause.

    Example

    In the sentence 'He seems to be happy', raising moves the subject to the start.

    Example

    Subject-to-subject raising is a common feature in English verbs like 'seem' and 'appear', where the embedded subject occupies the matrix subject position.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English reysynge; equivalent to raise + -ing.

Word family

© 2026 English Reference