What does registering mean?
Registering means officially recording a person, object, fact, or statement in a list or other formal record. It is commonly used when enrolling for a service, entering a name on an official register, documenting a complaint, or making an issue formally known. The word can also describe an instrument that detects or indicates a measurement: a pressure gauge may be registering a sudden rise. In general use, registering often carries an administrative or institutional tone, suggesting that a person or thing is being made part of an official system. Related forms include registration, the act or process of recording something; registrar, an official responsible for maintaining records; and registry, the record or institution in which entries are kept. Registering is distinct in spelling from the accepted alternative registering, which occurs especially in legal and administrative writing.
To enter a person, item, or fact in an official list or record; to make something formally known; or to indicate a measurement or detected condition.
"The company is registering its newest product with the relevant authority."
The spelling registering is also accepted, especially in legal and administrative usage.
The act or process of entering information in a register or making it officially known.
"The registering of voters continued until the deadline."
This gerund noun is less common in general use than the corresponding verb.
Rare; the singular gerund is much more usual in modern English.
"The office recorded the registerings in a separate ledger."
A register is a record, and registering is putting something on the record.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does registering come from?
The word comes through Old French registre from Latin registrum, meaning a list or record, ultimately from Latin regere, “to rule, direct, or put in order.” The sense of placing information into an orderly record developed from that idea of direction and regulation. English acquired the noun in the Middle English period, and the modern verb form developed alongside its established administrative meanings.
Related word forms
How registering is actually used
Registering is the standard spelling. The alternative registering is also accepted, particularly in legal and administrative contexts.
Easily confused with registering
Registering is the standard modern spelling, while registering is an accepted alternative used especially in legal and administrative writing.