What does submitting mean?
Submitting is the present participle of submit, a verb used for presenting documents, applications, proposals, reports, or other material to someone for review or official consideration. It can also describe a person or group yielding to a greater authority, control, or force: “The company eventually submitted to regulatory pressure.” In administrative and professional contexts, submitting is generally neutral, though it may imply that the recipient has the power to judge, approve, or act on what is presented. The gerund form is common in instructions such as “submitting the form” and in legal or academic language. Because the word is an inflected form of submit, its meaning depends on the broader sentence and on whether the act of presenting or the resulting state of submission is intended.
verbThe present participle of submit, meaning to present a document, proposal, or other information for consideration, or to accept the authority or control of another person or authority.
- Present participle of submit: presenting a document, proposal, application, or other information for consideration.
- Present participle of submit: yielding to or placing oneself under the authority, control, or judgment of another.
"She spent the afternoon submitting applications to graduate programs."
"The committee is submitting the revised budget for approval."
"He refused to keep submitting to demands he considered unreasonable."
The word submit originally meant to place something beneath a superior authority; submitting a document still carries that older idea of presenting yourself or your work for judgment.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does submitting come from?
Submitting is formed from submit, with the present-participle ending -ing. Submit comes through Old French submitter from Latin submittere, formed from sub- meaning “under” and mittere meaning “to send.” The Latin sense conveyed placing something under another authority or sending a case for decision. Related English words include submission and submissive.
How submitting is actually used
As a present participle, “submitting” follows the noun it modifies, as in “the submitting student.” It can also function as a gerund, as in “Submitting the form requires a valid email address.”