grainy
adjective
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Definition of grainy
1 : resembling or having some characteristic of grain : not smooth or fine
2 of a photograph : appearing to be composed of grain-like particles
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Synonyms & Antonyms for grainy
Synonyms
coarse, grained, granular, granulated
Antonyms
dusty, fine, floury, powdery, superfine, ultrafine
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Examples of grainy in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The film is mostly three-and-a-half minutes of grainy fall foliage, men riding horses, and jerky pans. — Matt Blitz, Popular Mechanics, "Science Meets Legend: The Story of Our Search for Bigfoot," 8 Oct. 2018 She's seen showing off some of her signature Spears-y dance moves in front of a set of grainy TV screens that eventually reveal the My Prerogative bottle. — Zoe Weiner, Allure, "Britney Spears Announced Her New Fragrance, My Prerogative, in the Most Britney Spears Way Ever," 16 July 2018 At some point, Meghan's feet even appeared to sink into the sand, meaning her shoes would have been filled with the grainy particles. — Marina Liao, Marie Claire, "Meghan Markle's Rothy's Flats Filled With Sand at Melbourne Beach," 18 Oct. 2018 The grainy photo sheds light on some of the dilemmas with rugby at youth level. — George Ramsay, CNN, "From teenager to test match: The long road to rugby stardom," 11 May 2018 The grainy, vintage-like video begins with Kanye and T.I deep in a discussion about Ye's latest antics. — Nerisha Penrose, Billboard, "Kanye West Discusses Why He Likes Trump in Behind-The-Scenes Footage of 'Ye vs. the People'," 1 May 2018 At one end supermarket tabloids published stories and grainy pictures of extraterrestrial landings and improbable celebrity shenanigans. — Amar Bhidé, WSJ, "Skepticism Beats Snopes as an Antidote to Fake News," 8 June 2018 But when it was first offered last year, Chipotle’s health-conscious rendition of queso was derided as grainy and tasteless (in an echo of Burger King’s deeply unpopular lower-fat Satisfries french fries a few years earlier). — Tiffany Hsu, New York Times, "Meat Wrapped in Meat. Doughnut Sandwiches. Want Some of Fast Food’s Big Ideas?," 22 June 2018 The warm glow of a street lamp struggles to cut through the pea soup, but the details of the scene remain indefinite, blurry, faintly mysterious, the people’s faces shrouded in shadow, the sky grainy and gray on the old-fashioned film. — Andrew Lanham, The New Republic, "Michael Ondaatje’s Haunting Pasts," 8 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grainy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for grainy
grainy
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of grainy
: not smooth or fine
of a photograph : not clear or sharp because of having a picture formed from many dots that are large enough to be seen
See the full definition for grainy in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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