blooming

adjective or adverb

bloom·​ing ˈblü-mən 

-miŋ

1

: having blooms unfolding : flowering

a blooming rose

a blooming cherry tree

2

: thriving in health, beauty, and vigor : exhibiting the freshness and beauties of youth or health

… ever since she was a blooming lass of twenty.

—George Eliot

… a smart, pretty girl of nineteen, with … a round face, bright, blooming cheeks, glossy, clustering curls, and little merry brown eyes.

—Anne Brontë

3

chiefly British, informal

—used as a generalized intensive

a blooming fool

He's a blooming busybody: that's what he is.

—George Bernard Shaw

Synonyms

• florid
• flush
• full-blooded
• glowing
• red
• rosy
• rubicund
• ruddy
• sanguine

Examples of blooming in a Sentence

the blooming faces of children at play in the great outdoors

thought that the royals were blooming idiots for making such indiscreet statements

Recent Examples on the Web

On Sunday, fans who have been similarly patient with the Orioles’ 21-year-old blooming star were rewarded, as Henderson capped one of his best performances in the major leagues with a 462-foot missile onto Eutaw Street. —Hayes Gardner, Baltimore Sun, 11 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

probably euphemism for bloody

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing blooming

• night-blooming cereus