grind

verb

\ ˈgrīnd

ground\ ˈgrau̇nd

\; grinding

Definition of grind

(Entry 1 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to reduce to powder or small fragments by friction (as in a mill or with the teeth) grind the coffee beans

2 : to wear down, polish, or sharpen by friction grind an ax

3a : oppress, harass tyrants who grind their subjects

b : to weaken or destroy gradually —usually used with down poverty ground her spirit down

4a : to press together with a rotating motion grind the teeth

b : to rub or press harshly ground the cigarette out

5 : to operate or produce by turning a crank grind a hand organ

intransitive verb

1 : to perform the operation of grinding

2 : to become pulverized, polished, or sharpened by friction

3 : to move with difficulty or friction especially so as to make a grating noise gears grinding

4 : drudge especially : to study hard grind for an exam

5 : to rotate the hips in an erotic manner

grind

noun

Definition of grind (Entry 2 of 2)

1a : an act of grinding

b : the sound of grinding

2a : dreary, monotonous, or difficult labor, study, or routine the dull grind of office work

b : one who works or studies excessively a grind who never goes to parties

3 : the result of grinding also : material ground to a particular degree of fineness a drip grind of coffee

4 : an action of rotating the hips in an erotic manner (as in a dance or in a burlesque striptease act) — compare bump entry 1 sense 3

Other Words from grind Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about grind

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Synonyms for grind

Synonyms: Verb

buff, file, hone, rasp, rub, sand

Synonyms: Noun

creak, jar, rasp, scrape, scratch

Choose the Right Synonym for grind

Noun

work, labor, travail, toil, drudgery, grind mean activity involving effort or exertion. work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force. too tired to do any work labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion. farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering. years of travail were lost when the house burned toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor. his lot would be years of back-breaking toil drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor. an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body. the grind of the assembly line

Examples of grind in a Sentence

Verb

The corn is ground into meal. The steel grinds to a sharp edge. She kept grinding the car's gears. He grinds his teeth in his sleep. I could hear the gears grinding.

Noun

I need a break from the daily grind. the dull grind of office work

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

To further make their guests' travel planning stress free, a couple may want to work with a travel agent to coordinate all flights, room reservations, and ground transportation for their wedding weekend. — Myka Meier, Harper's BAZAAR, "All Your Wedding Etiquette Questions Asked & Answered," 31 Oct. 2018 Some introductory text or explanatory narration would have better helped historically ground viewers, who need to juggle a lot of information. — Kimberly Reed, New York Times, "Review: Tracking ‘Dark Money’ in Montana Elections," 12 July 2018 Over the course of 12 hours of curing, the salt and sugar coax individually ground particles of meat to form an interconnected, bouncy slab. — Ali Bouzari, SFChronicle.com, "Housemade: The magic of Liholiho Yacht Club," 22 June 2018 Suddenly, my week of teeth-grinding grit would fade. — Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times, "Author Stephanie Land on struggling against a system seemingly stacked against the working poor," 23 Jan. 2019 Even those formulaic fetch quests are forgivable, because Insomniac spit-shined the maneuvers and always-grinding combat—the core loop of the gameplay—as opposed to trying to reinvent the open-world wheel. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Sunset Overdrive review: Ride the rails to kaboom-town (finally on PCs, too)," 17 Nov. 2018 In August 2016, when the two met in a final, in coral-grinding barrels at Teahupoo, Tahiti, Slater did everything but take Florence over his knee for a fatherly spanking on the way to an easy win. — Matt Warshaw, Outside Online, "The Dominance of Kelly Slater," 5 July 2018 When the helicopter landed, two men dressed all in black, opened the prison door using a grinding machine and took Faid. — Ashley May, USA TODAY, "Notorious gangster Redoine Faid escapes French prison, again, on hijacked helicopter," 2 July 2018 Two of the men, wearing balaclavas and police armbands, ran inside, used a grinding machine to cut through the doors to the visiting area and, with Mr. Faïd in tow, raced back to the helicopter, Mr. Delabroye said. — Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, "In Hollywood-Style Jailbreak, French Convict Flees Prison," 1 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Variation #6: Chai Spice In a small bowl, combine ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom and a few grinds of black pepper. — Adina Steiman, WSJ, "This Holiday Season’s Smartest Cookie," 5 Dec. 2018 The picture this collection makes is one of a genius who is herself maddened by social niceties, and all the other tedious obstacles of the daily capitalist grind. — Brittany Allen, Longreads, "Getting Tricked by Helen DeWitt," 9 July 2018 Hurricane Florence is going to continue its violent grind across our state for days. — Skip Foreman, The Seattle Times, "Toppled trees, swift water, have killed many during Florence," 17 Sep. 2018 Markle and Prince Harry were back on their joint royal outing grind, and Markle's hair had made its triumphant return to her now-famous low, slightly undone bun. — Andrea Park, Glamour, "Meghan Markle Brought Back Her Wedding Hair For Her First Trip to Sussex," 3 Oct. 2018 Hurricane Florence is going to continue its violent grind across our state for days. — Fox News, "Florence downgraded to tropical storm after first deaths reported in North Carolina," 14 Sep. 2018 Like Pancakes, the Baltimore-via-Towson brass-rock band, has been on an independent grind for years, self-booking tours around the country and crowd-funding their albums through online campaigns. — Wesley Case, baltimoresun.com, "The 10 Baltimore-area concerts we're most looking forward to this spring and summer," 22 Mar. 2018 Next step for self-care within the 9-to-5 grind at 1 World Trade Center: crystal eye masks and powwows with Jimmy Fallon on the phone. — Vogue, "Comedian Ken Jeong Interns in Vogue’s Beauty Closet, Discovers the Power of Sheet Masks," 18 Dec. 2018 In a nutshell, humans and machines become partners rather than competitors because designers don’t want to be engineers, and engineers don’t want to get lost in the production grind. — Pam Baker, Ars Technica, "Artificial Intelligence and the coming of the self-designing machine," 6 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grind.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.