What does undergoing mean?
Undergoing is the present-participle form of undergo, meaning to experience or be subjected to a process, treatment, or change. It is widely used in formal English, especially when describing events that are in progress: a patient undergoes surgery, a company undergoes restructuring, or a building undergoes renovation. As an adjective, it modifies the person or thing being affected: a patient undergoing treatment, a system undergoing testing, or an organization undergoing considerable change. The word conveys that a process is taking place, without necessarily suggesting that the experience is unpleasant; treatment, growth, development, and reform can all be undergone. Undergoing is especially useful in news, medical, scientific, academic, and administrative writing because it clearly marks an action as current and ongoing.
Experiencing or being subjected to a process, treatment, change, or development.
"The clinic is undergoing a major expansion to accommodate more patients."
This is the present-participle form of undergo and can function as a gerund-like verbal noun in constructions such as undergoing review.
Describing someone or something that is experiencing a process, treatment, change, or development.
"The hospital has introduced new protocols for patients undergoing chemotherapy."
The adjectival use is especially common before a noun, such as undergoing treatment or undergoing investigation.
Undergoing is both an action in progress and a label for the thing being acted upon: patients undergo treatment, and treatment is the process they are undergoing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does undergoing come from?
Undergoing comes from the English verb undergo, formed from the combination of under and go. The expression originally conveyed going through or experiencing something from a position beneath or within it, and its modern sense developed naturally into being subjected to a process or treatment. The related forms undergo and underwent preserve the same root, while undergoing is the modern present participle used both after a subject and before a noun.
Related word forms
How undergoing is actually used
The word is formal and neutral, common in news, academic, medical, and administrative contexts. It often describes processes that are deliberately initiated but not yet complete, such as treatment, renovation, review, or reorganization.
Easily confused with undergoing
Undergoing means experiencing a process or change, whereas underway means that something is already in progress.