Waging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To initiate and maintain a specific course of action, particularly one that involves conflict or competition
2. Engaging in and carrying out a sustained campaign or action, typically involving conflict or competition
3. Actively managing and pursuing a particular effort or strategy over a period of time, often related to battles or contests

Etymology: "Waging" is the present participle of "wage," and the verb's original sense was financial rather than military. Its ancestor was a pledge: a Frankish word "waddī" and the Proto-Germanic "wadją" both meant a security or guarantee deposited to seal an agreement. Medieval Latin turned that into "wadium," and Old French developed the related "gage," still the French word for a pledge. A promise was once backed by a physical object handed over as a guarantee, and the verb "wagier" meant to put such a pledge up. From that legal sense of staking something of value, the word drifted in two directions. Staking a pledge on a result gave rise to the idea of wagering on an outcome, and in English "to wage" came to mean to make a bet. The sense of conducting an ongoing contest, as in waging war, grew from the same root, since engaging in a struggle is itself a kind of stake placed on an outcome.

Synonyms: conducting, carrying on, engaging in, fighting, pursuing

Antonyms: ceasing, ending, abandoning, discontinuing, suspending