grid

noun

ˈgrid 

1

: grating

2

a(1)

: a perforated or ridged metal plate used as a conductor in a storage battery

(2)

: an electrode consisting of a mesh or a spiral of fine wire in an electron tube

(3)

: a network of conductors for distribution of electric power

also : a network of radio or television stations

b

: a network of uniformly spaced horizontal and perpendicular lines (as for locating points on a map)

also : something resembling such a network

a road grid

c

: gridiron sense 3

broadly : football

3

: the starting positions of cars on a racecourse

4

: a device in a photocomposer on which are located the characters to be exposed as the text is composed

Examples of grid in a Sentence

The students plotted points on a grid.

The city streets form a grid.

Recent Examples on the Web

There has been a lack of clarity about how long Putin had promised to observe a pause on power grid attacks. —Arkansas Online, 5 Feb. 2026

Then, they are manually placed on Multi Electrode Arrays (MEAs), a grid of tiny electrodes on a biocompatible substrate chip that records and stimulates neurons using 32 electrodes grouped into four sets of eight. —Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 5 Feb. 2026

Peskoe and others are watching court challenges to the DOE emergency orders closely, seeing if courts weigh in on this use of emergency powers to decide what kinds of energy should remain on the grid longer. —Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 5 Feb. 2026

Reeves plays Reef Hawk, a movie star who spends five years off the grid recovering from heroin addiction. —Matt Donnelly, Variety, 4 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from gridiron

First Known Use

1839, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing grid

• cattle grid
• micro-grid
• off-grid
• off-the-grid

Rhymes for grid

• bid
• did
• hid
• id
• lid
• mid
• quid
• rid
• skid
• slid
• squid
• amid

Kids Definition

grid

noun

ˈgrid 

1

: grating sense 1

2

: a metal plate used as a conductor in a storage battery

3

: an element of an electron tube consisting of a network of fine wire

4

: a network of horizontal and perpendicular lines (as for locating points on a map using coordinates or for counting a sample of particles or organisms on a microscope slide)

5

: a network of conductors for distribution of electrical power

also : a network of radio or television stations