grating

1 of 2

noun

grat·​ing ˈgrā-tiŋ 

1

: a wooden or metal lattice used to close or floor an opening

2

: a partition, covering, or frame of parallel bars or crossbars

3

: a system of close equidistant and parallel lines or bars ruled on a polished surface to produce spectra by diffraction

grating

2 of 2

adjective

: causing irritation or annoyance

a grating habit

It's not just that the interruptions themselves are grating to watch: what's worse is the hostilities they create.

—Heather Schwedel

often : having a harsh or unpleasant sound

a grating voice/accent

If you just imagined that last quote spoken in Gottfried's grating, obnoxious yelling, that's now how you would hear him on the phone.

—Blake Hannon

The truck braked noisily with a grating shriek of steel.

—Mildred D. Taylor

gratingly adverb

a gratingly harsh sound

Something in Orcutt's proprietary manner had irritated her at that first meeting, something she found gratingly egotistical in his expansive courtesy …

—Philip Roth

Synonyms

Adjective

• loud
• harsh
• grotesque
• jarring
• ugly

Examples of grating in a Sentence

Adjective

the mix of colors in that painting is terribly grating

with a grating voice, she croaked a feeble "hello"

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Once upon a time, a child was born into wealth and wanted for nothing, but he was possessed by bottomless, endless, grating, grasping wanting, and wanted more, and got it, and more after that, and always more. —Rebecca Solnit may 31, Literary Hub, 31 May 2024

Hornbuckle slipped and fell once on the steel grating. —Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 May 2025

Adjective

The Miz, often derided as a wrestler for his flamboyant and grating onscreen personality, is few people’s idea of a WrestleMania main-event talent, so his win makes the 27th event stand out as kind of an oddity. —Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2025

His political opponents viewed him as grating, uncooperative, and at times dogmatic. —Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1622, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1563, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing grating

• diffraction grating

Rhymes for grating

• baiting
• bating
• crating
• dating
• freighting
• gating
• hating
• mating
• plaiting
• plating
• prating
• rating

Kids Definition

grating

noun

grat·​ing

ˈgrāt-iŋ

1

: a frame of parallel bars or crossbars

2

: a transparent surface that is ruled with a series of very closely spaced parallel lines or bars and is used to produce spectra by the diffraction of light

Medical Definition

grating

noun

grat·​ing ˈgrāt-iŋ 

: a system of close equidistant and parallel lines or bars ruled on a polished surface to produce spectra by diffraction

called also diffraction grating