belonging

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.

be·long·ing

(bĭ-lông′ĭng, -lŏng′-)

1. Acceptance as a natural member or part: a sense of belonging.

2. belongings Personal items that one owns; possessions.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

belonging

(bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ)

secure relationship; affinity (esp in the phrase a sense of belonging)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•long•ing

(bɪˈlɔŋ ɪŋ, -ˈlɒŋ-)

n.

1. belongings, possessions; personal effects.

2. close relationship: a sense of belonging.

[1595]

Belonging

As much at home … as a fish in water —Honoré de Balzac
An enduring comparison, as illustrated by a 1986 quote from the New York Times: “We belong … like fish in water. We’re in our environment.”
As much out of his element as an eel in a sand bag —H. G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
As well adapted to the purpose as a one-pronged fork for pitching hay —Herman Melville
(She had) clicked into place [as teacher in school] like a well-hung door closing evenly —Barry Targan
Felt as well placed in the world as a fresh loaf of bread —Laurie Colwin
Fit [poor fit] like a breeching on a pig —Anon
Fit like a duck’s foot in the mud —Anon
Fit … like a tongue into a groove —Jonathan Valin
In the novel, Life’s Work, the simile refers to the way a man’s body fits into a chair.
Fits as a hollow fits a circle —Anon
Fits him as easily as his skin —Thomas Hughes
Fits like the skin on a sausage —Anon
Fitted (into their scheme of life) as a well-made reel fits the butt of a good rod —Henry Van Dyke
Fitted in like a Marine in a parade —William Beechcroft
Fitted (its new home) like a coin in a slot —George Garrett
Fitting comfortable and heavy like a gun in a holster —George Garrett
Like a barber’s chair, fit for everyone —Thomas Fuller
Like Miniver Cheevy, he had been born too late —Joseph Heller
See Also: TIMELINESS/UNTIMELINESS
Looking as lost as a shipwrecked mariner —Yisrael Zarchi
[Feel] misplaced ... as if she had been expelled from a dream in which she would have dearly loved to remain —Milan Kundera
Part of the landscape, like a tree —John Updike
Swam as happily in society as a fish swam in schools —Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

belonging - happiness felt in a secure relationship; "with his classmates he felt a sense of belonging"

happiness - emotions experienced when in a state of well-being

comfortableness - a feeling of being at ease in a relationship

closeness, intimacy - a feeling of being intimate and belonging together; "their closeness grew as the night wore on"

belonging

noun fellowship, relationship, association, partnership, loyalty, acceptance, attachment, inclusion, affinity, closeness, rapport, affiliation, kinship a man utterly without a sense of belonging

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

belonging

noun

One's portable property.Often used in plural:

effect (used in plural), good (used in plural), lares and penates, personal effects, personal property, possession (used in plural), property, thing (often used in plural).

Informal: stuff.

Law: chattel, movable (often used in plural).

Translations

appartenenza

принадлежность

belonging

[bɪˈlɒŋɪŋ] n
sense of belonging (to country, community) → sentiment m d'appartenance

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in classic literature ?

"Oh no, if you please'm; that's a little scarlet waist-coat belonging to Cock Robin!"

"Oh no, if you please'm; that's a damask table-cloth belonging to Jenny Wren; look how it's stained with currant wine!

"Oh, that's a pair of stockings belonging to Sally Henny- penny--look how she's worn the heels out with scratching in the yard!

View in context

Tulliver regarded him with dutiful respect, as he did everything else belonging to the church-service; but he considered that church was one thing and common-sense another, and he wanted nobody to tell him what commonsense was.

View in context

The highest society then consisted, and I think always consist, of four sorts of people: rich people who are received at Court, people not wealthy but born and brought up in Court circles, rich people who ingratiate themselves into the Court set, and people neither rich nor belonging to the Court but who ingratiate themselves into the first and second sets.

And his choice fell on a beauty belonging to the Court, who not merely belonged to the circle into which he wished to be accepted, but whose friendship was coveted by the very highest people and those most firmly established in that highest circle.

View in context

Farmers find that they can raise most food by a rotation of plants belonging to the most different orders: nature follows what may be called a simultaneous rotation.

Let (A) be a common, widely-diffused, and varying species, belonging to a genus large in its own country.

View in context

Trade boxes belonging to the blacks had been irregularly piled so that a small space was left between two boxes in the lower tier.

View in context

Four days were spent in thinking what name to give him, because (as he said to himself) it was not right that a horse belonging to a knight so famous, and one with such merits of his own, should be without some distinctive name, and he strove to adapt it so as to indicate what he had been before belonging to a knight-errant, and what he then was; for it was only reasonable that, his master taking a new character, he should take a new name, and that it should be a distinguished and full-sounding one, befitting the new order and calling he was about to follow.

Her name was Aldonza Lorenzo, and upon her he thought fit to confer the title of Lady of his Thoughts; and after some search for a name which should not be out of harmony with her own, and should suggest and indicate that of a princess and great lady, he decided upon calling her Dulcinea del Toboso -she being of El Toboso- a name, to his mind, musical, uncommon, and significant, like all those he had already bestowed upon himself and the things belonging to him.

View in context

And when they met with several girls belonging to the Army of Revolt, those soldiers, instead of being alarmed or appearing surprised, merely stepped out of the way and allowed them to advance without protest.