Contributing

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /kənˈtɹɪbjuːtɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Giving help or support to bring about a result or provide something needed
2. Playing a part in producing an outcome or supplying a necessary part
3. Offering assistance or adding to something to help it happen or be supplied

Etymology: Ancient Romans used "tribus" for the basic divisions of their people, and the word that became "contribute" grew out of that same tribal idea. Its Latin ancestor "contribuere" combined "con-", meaning "together", with "tribuere", "to bestow" or "to assign", so the original sense was of bringing things together and allotting them among a group. The tribal link runs deep: "tribus" is itself connected to "trēs", the Latin word for "three", a reminder that the earliest Roman tribes were counted in threes. English borrowed the verb from Latin in the sixteenth century, and at first it carried much of that original sense of distributing or bestowing. The meaning narrowed over time toward giving a share of something, whether money, effort or ideas, to a shared undertaking. "Contributing" is the present participle form of this verb, describing someone or something actively adding to a common effort.

Synonyms: donating, adding, supplying

Antonyms: withholding, subtracting