grind

verb \ ˈgrīnd \

|Updated on: 6 Jul 2018

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Examples: grind in a Sentence

Definition of grind

ground play \ˈgrau̇nd\; grinding

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

3 a : oppress, harass

tyrants who grind their subjects

b : to weaken or destroy gradually —usually used with down

poverty ground her spirit down

4 a : 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

—

grindingly

play \ˈgrīn-diŋ-lē\ adverb

See grind defined for English-language learners

See grind defined for kids

Examples of grind in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of grind from the Web

France's butchers have an ax to grind with the country's vegan activists.

— rebecca tan, Washington Post, "France’s butchers fear the wrath of ‘militant vegans’," 28 June 2018
The pit is very bitter, which is why those who are using it tend to grind it up and disguise it in other foods.

— mari a. schaefer, Philly.com, "Should you eat the avocado pit?," 25 June 2018
Its eventual poster kids spent the decade’s early years grinding it out in America’s VFW halls, the venerable ethos of Thursday, Saves the Day, and Jimmy Eat World their guiding light.

— chris payne, Billboard, "The Summer Punk Went Pop: Oral History of the 2005 Warped Tour," 21 June 2018
Benan said yesterday that after years of loving them, the show process started to grind him down.

— luke leitch, Vogue, "Umit Benan Steps Back—Cautiously—Into the Fashion System," 15 June 2018
Brown gives Ortiz a talk on race strategy, with detailed jargon that the uninitiated can only loosely translate as: Let another horse challenge Justify at the start to tire him out, then grind it out to the finish.

— kalyn kahler, SI.com, "A Saturday at the Belmont With Gronk," 11 June 2018
The job pays well, but only if operators are willing to grind it out in their physical restaurants six days per week.

— rachel siegel, ajc, "Why it’s harder to get a Chick-Fil-A franchise than it is to get in to Harvard," 7 June 2018
Measure your beans using a separate scale, grind them fresh for each cup.

— reviewed staff, USA TODAY, "The best coffee makers of 2018," 8 May 2018
Those school administrators with an ax to grind wasted no time making their positions clear.

— michael arceneaux, Essence.com, "A Reminder To Students Punished In Gun Violence Protests: School Boards Can Be Voted Out," 16 Mar. 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.

Origin and Etymology of grind

Middle English, from Old English grindan; akin to Latin frendere to crush, grind

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

grind Synonyms

grind

noun

Definition of grind

1 a : an act of grinding

b : the sound of grinding

2 a : 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 ¹bump 3

See grind defined for English-language learners

Examples of grind in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of grind from the Web

Each time, John stayed back with Amon-ra, muting his emotions into the daily grind of their push toward greatness.

— j. brady mccollough, latimes.com, "Meet 'the LaVar Ball of college football', whose youngest son is determined to live up to the hype at USC," 18 June 2018
Others see comedic relief in the long grind of a season.

— sam mellinger, kansascity, "The Royals' pen pal is a 74-year-old Navy vet who wants to fix Danny Duffy's follow-through," 14 June 2018
While the lawsuit must play out in the slow grind of the courts, health insurers are setting their Obamacare insurance rates for 2019.

— dylan scott, Vox, "The Trump administration believes Obamacare’s preexisting conditions protections are now unconstitutional," 8 June 2018
Like 19th century robber barons, today’s tech titans atone their excesses by offering handouts to a public torn between admiration and resentment, between capitalist striving and the daily grind of precarity.

— jacob silverman, Longreads, "The Billionaire Philanthropist," 13 Mar. 2018
But between the daily grind causing constant inconveniences, things going awry at work and the inevitable stress of our personal relationships, voicing a complaint here and there ends up becoming all but unavoidable.

— NBC News, "How to complain constructively (and get results)," 25 May 2017
The entire Texans organization and its fans have constantly been sending me good wishes and giving me their support, so the grind has been easy.

— christopher cason, GQ, "The Real-Life Diet of Deshaun Watson, Who Has Texans Fans Thinking Super Bowl," 30 Apr. 2018
In this context the world of competitive surfing (no matter how low the stakes) seems like a romantic alternative to the daily grind.

— ben sachs, Chicago Reader, "Film / Foreign A Scene at the Sea is an early masterpiece from Takeshi Kitano," 27 Apr. 2018
The weekly grind of traveling is still fresh, the challenge of playing new courses, like next week's Zurich at TPC Louisiana, still excites him.

— ron higgins, NOLA.com, "Sam I Am: Former LSU golfer Sam Burns is a fast-rising star on the pro tour," 21 Apr. 2018

Origin and Etymology of grind

see ¹grind

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

grind Synonyms

Synonyms

drudgery, labor, slavery, sweat, toil, travail;

Antonyms

fun, play;

Near Antonyms

decompression, ease, leisure, relaxation, repose, rest;

amusement, dalliance, diversion, entertainment, recreation, sport;

dormancy, idleness, inactivity, inertia, inertness;

dallying, goldbricking, loafing, lolling, lounging;

Related Words

spadework;

effort, exertion, pains, struggle, trouble;

chore, duty, job, obligation, responsibility;

routine, tedium, treadmill;

Synonym Discussion of grind

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

Other Dance Terms

attitude, honor, saltatory, sashay, taw

GRIND Defined for English Language Learners

grind

verb

Definition of grind for English Language Learners

: to crush or break (something) into very small pieces by rubbing it against a rough surface or using a special machine
: to cut (meat) into small pieces by putting it through a special machine
: to make (something) sharp or smooth by rubbing it against a hard surface

grind

noun

Definition of grind for English Language Learners

: boring or difficult work
: a person who works or studies too much
—used to describe the size of the pieces of something that has been ground

GRIND Defined for Kids

grind

verb \ ˈgrīnd \

Definition of grind for Students

ground \ˈgrau̇nd\; grinding

1 : to make or be made into powder or small pieces by rubbing

The mill grinds wheat into flour.

2 : to wear down, polish, or sharpen by friction

grind an ax

3 : to rub together with a scraping noise

grind the teeth

4 : to operate or produce by or as if by turning a crank

grind

noun

Definition of grind for Students

1 : an act of sharpening or reducing to powder

2 : steady hard work

the daily grind

Medical Dictionary

grind

transitive verb \ ˈgrīnd \

medical Definition of grind

ground play \ˈgrau̇nd\; grinding

1 : to reduce to powder or small fragments by friction (as with the teeth)

2 : to press together and move with a rotating or back-and-forth motion — see bruxism

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grind

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grindingly

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grind

Definition of grind

Examples of grind in a Sentence

Recent Examples of grind from the Web

Origin and Etymology of grind

grind Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Near Antonyms

Related Words

Synonym Discussion of grind

Other Dance Terms

GRIND Defined for English Language Learners

grind

Definition of grind for English Language Learners

grind

Definition of grind for English Language Learners

GRIND Defined for Kids

grind

Definition of grind for Students

grind

Definition of grind for Students

Medical Dictionary

grind

medical Definition of grind

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