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Grok may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. Grok was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to Earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange ways of earthlings. Grok was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it.
Examples of grok in a Sentence
Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
The deluge of casual gamers the Nintendo Wii lured in throughout the mid-aughts could not grok that the Wii U was something new and different.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025
Still, there’s a lot to grok from the details.
—Jason Evangelho, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
An experienced marketer who groks data’s value in the digital age, Goss and I first teamed up to make sense of so many growing number of business models built around monetizing attention and tracking online behaviors.
—Michael Ashley, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2025
That doesn’t grok with previous estimates of the moon’s ice, which suggested a thin layer covering a thick ocean.
—Isaac Schultz / Gizmodo, Quartz, 24 Mar. 2024
Overwatch 2 is a complicated game that will take a long time for new players to fully grok.
—Kris Holt, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2022
If there was any ironic intent behind the question, NeuNer didn’t seem to grok it.
—Jacob Silverman, The New Republic, 3 Mar. 2022
The developers hope graphical and feature improvements that make Age of Empires IV easy to learn will let spectators and casual players grok the basics of high-level play—not just as players, but as fans.
—Matthew Smith, Wired, 25 Oct. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Grok.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grok. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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