grate

verb

Definition of gratenext
1
as in to annoy
to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts unintentionally or not, you say rude things that grate people

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to scratch
to pass roughly and noisily over or against a surface the sled grated along the bare pavement

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to grit
to press or strike against or together so as to make a scraping sound he grated the pieces of metal together

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of grate Finely grate zest from 1 lemon over, then cut lemon into wedges. — Hana Asbrink, Bon Appetit Magazine, 23 Sep. 2026 An itinerant curate with a grating personality, Gerard moved the family around frequently. — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 21 Sep. 2026 Athletes do miss a lot of classes, which grates on professors. — Geraldo L. Cadava, The Atlantic, 19 Sep. 2026 Made out of stainless steel, the grater effortlessly zests citrus, shreds hard cheeses, and grates fresh spices. — Mariette Williams, Travel + Leisure, 16 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for grate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grate
  1. annoy
  2. scratch
  3. grit
  4. bother
  5. scrape
  6. irritate
  7. rub
  8. bug
Verb
  • The Biden administration also had a commitment to AI safety that annoyed AI companies.
    — Nina Verdelli, Vanity Fair, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Alan Cumming, please tell me if you were actually annoyed with Victor in that moment.
    — Alice Burton, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of annoy
Verb
  • Starting left tackle Elijah Paige had been scratched in pregame warm-ups at Penn State.
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Lee is forever grunting and scratching and clearing his throat.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of scratch
Verb
  • Meanwhile, Russian drivers grit their teeth, endure the lines, and hope that government promises that the shortages will ease after the agricultural harvest season – a time of peak demand – are fulfilled.
    — Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Red flag The Dodgers still don’t know what to reasonably expect from Ohtani, gritting out the postseason despite discomfort in his left knee and right arm.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of grit
Verb
  • The mathematics and computer science graduate, who spent two years in the Peace Corps, launched Netflix by mailing DVDs in red envelopes to customers bothered by Blockbuster Video chain’s practices and late fees.
    — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Some people, like me, are bothered by such images but can mostly ignore them.
    — Gabriela Galvin, Scientific American, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of bother
Verb
  • Startup Hamlet has parsed tens of thousands of city council meetings by scraping local governments’ video recordings, tagging comments as friendly or hostile to a potential project.
    — J.D. Capelouto, semafor.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Last week, Meta faced backlash after legal experts warned that the tech giant’s sweeping new commercial terms of service seemed to give Meta permission to endlessly scrape websites linked on business pages.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of scrape
Verb
  • These extra vessels increase inflammation and irritate surrounding nerves, making daily movement painful.
    — Khloe Quill, FOXNews.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The key is knowing what’s likely to irritate your skin during a flare and what may spark an issue day-to-day even when your skin is clear.
    — Kara McGrath, Allure, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of irritate
Verb
  • The discovery was made Wednesday in the Hickory Ridge area of east Charlotte, and responding officers report a man drenched in sweat tried to rub them down with garlic and bite them, according to an affidavit.
    — Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 23 Oct. 2026
  • True, but there are other issues that rubbed me the wrong way (sorry).
    — Valerie Monroe, Allure, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of rub
Verb
  • On Monday, a court granted the US government’s request to deny release of a former OpenAI engineer accused of bugging a top-secret conference room to steal the frontier lab’s secrets.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026
  • And as the team moved into the couple’s guest house on their San Diego rental property, the filmmakers feared that the home was bugged and ordered a device to try to de-bug it, without success.
    — Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of bug

Browse Nearby Words

grass (on)
grate
G-rated
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Grate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grate. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on grate

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about grate

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All