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caretaking

caretaking

1 3.7
Looking after someone or something because it is your duty
  • noun
  • /ˈkɛrˌteɪkɪŋ/
translation icon : cuidado
  • At four, I became a big sister and sensed the weight of Mother's new caretaking responsibilities.
  • caretaking responsibilities
  • caretaking role
  • task of caretaking

You'll enter eras of personal and career growth, of uncertainty, of caretaking, and of loss and sudden change.

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Examples

  • We talked about sharing responsibility for caretaking of the child and reducing our respective workloads.

    Blog text (28)
  • Not all such caretaking is as self-sacrificing as it may appear.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Maybe they just have more caretaking responsibilities than the average man released from jail.

    Academic text (1997)
  • At some point, the seriously mentally ill need some sort of caretaking, not just a monthly check and understanding.

    Blog text (32)
  • That is the real exchange of nourishment, of caretaking and service.

  • So if you ask a child what a mother is, they're going to tell you things about caretaking, right?

  • I just don't have time to keep up with the caretaking of plants and animals!

    Blog text (24)
  • The cost is disproportionately borne by women because they are disproportionately likely to assume primary caretaking responsibilities.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The Tsawout continue to foster a belief system of kinship and responsibility to their lands and resources, exemplified by their caretaking role in the newly formed Tsawout Land Stewardship Society, registered in June 2012.

    Academic text (2013)
  • She took on the caretaking of her aging grandmother when her health began to decline.

Synonyms

caring
vscaretaking
54 1.6

A kind feeling and concern for other people

is the duty of actually looking after someone or something rather than emotion
keeping
vscaretaking
15 1.5

The care and protection of something that someone is responsible for

is active looking after and responsibility rather than mere safekeeping
custodianship
vscaretaking
  • Formal
1 7.0

The job of looking after and managing things like property, records, or a building

is the personal act of looking after something as a duty
caregiving
vscaretaking
3.6

Relating to work that helps people who are old, ill, or disabled

is broader, applying to any duty to look after people or things

Antonyms

100 3.5

Not caring for someone or something that needs care

How Caring

nursing
  • Specialized
350 2.5
caretaking
1 3.7

Surface Forms

caretaking singular
caretakings plural

Morphology

caretaking = caretake (transparent) = care + take + ing

The noun is a straightforward gerundive formation from 'caretake', and the meaning follows directly from 'taking care of'.

Etymology

Caretaking comes from the parts care and taking, meaning 'to take care' or 'to look after'. So caretaking is the act of looking after someone or something, just like a caretaker does.