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Linger vs Hovering - What's the difference?

linger | hovering |

As verbs the difference between linger and hovering

is that linger is to stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so while hovering is .

As a noun hovering is

the act of one who hovers.

linger

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To stay or remain in a place or situation, especially as if unwilling to depart or not easily able to do so.
  • * 1859 , , A Tale of Two Cities , ch. 15:
    • His tone lingered in the air, almost like the tone of a musical instrument.
  • * 1891 , , "Mrs. Manstey's View":
    • She lingered in the window.
  • * 2011 April 25, Alice Park, " Upgrading the Disaster," Time :
    • It takes into account . . . predictions of how long radioactive contaminants will linger in the soil and water near the nuclear facility.
  • To remain alive or existent although still proceeding toward death or extinction; to die gradually.
  • * 1887 , , The Woodlanders , ch. 14:
    • He lingered through the day, and died that evening as the sun went down.
  • * 1904 , , "Asmund and Signy" in The Brown Fairy Book :
    • During his absence the queen fell ill, and after lingering for some time she died.
  • (often followed by on) To consider or contemplate for a period of time; to engage in analytical thinking or discussion.
  • * 2011 April 14, Michael Scherer, " Trump's Political Reality Show: Will the Donald Really Run for President?," Time :
    • Trump doesn't linger on the poll.

    Derived terms

    * lingerer * linger on

    hovering

    English

    (Hoverboard)

    Verb

    (head)

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of one who hovers.
  • * (Henry James)
    • Their visitor was an issue - at least to the imagination, and they arrived finally, under provocation, at intensities of flutter in which they felt themselves so compromised by his hoverings that they could only consider with relief the fact of nobody's knowing.