journaling

IPA/dʒˈɜːnəlɪŋ/
IPA/dʒˈɜːnəlɪŋ/

journaling — noun

1. the regular practice of writing down what happened during your day, often with n

1.nounB2
Definition

the regular practice of writing down what happened during your day, often with notes about how you felt or what you want to do next.

Example

Nora says journaling before bed helps her sleep better at night.

subject + journaling + helps + clause

After her cancer diagnosis, Élise turned to journaling as a way to process her fears.

turn to journaling as a way to + verb

Common collocations
  • daily journaling
  • start journaling
  • try journaling
  • journaling habit
  • journaling practice
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

journaling helps + verb

do journaling

start journaling

Usage Note

Often used as the subject or object of verbs like 'help', 'start', 'try', or 'practise'. Frequently paired with 'daily' or 'regular' to describe how often the writing happens.

Common Mistakes

I made a journaling last night.
I did some journaling last night.
journaling is uncountable; use 'do' or 'practise', not 'make a'.

journaling — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four involve writing things down, but they differ in audience and purpose. Journaling is private and reflective — the writer is the only intended reader and the goal is often to process feelings or track personal growth. Diary writing is the older everyday term and tends to focus on a simple record of daily events (where you went, who you saw). Blogging shares the regular-writing habit but is public-facing and usually built around a topic or audience. Note-taking is functional rather than reflective: capturing facts from a lecture, meeting, or book to remember later. If you write only for yourself and include your feelings, that's journaling; if you write for others online, that's blogging.

journaling ↗diary writingblogging ↗note-taking

Common collocations

Nouns

  • journaling habit
  • journaling practice
  • journaling app

Adverbs

Phrases

  • start journaling
  • try journaling
  • keep journaling

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Built from the noun 'journal', which came into English from Old French 'jornal' (meaning 'daily') and ultimately from the Latin 'diurnalis' ('of the day'). The -ing form turning it into the act of keeping such a daily record is a much later development, becoming common in everyday English only in the late twentieth century as personal writing for self-help and therapy grew popular.