1
as in to cringe
to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the way in which the abused dog would grovel whenever its owner came near

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2
as in to crawl
to move slowly with the body close to the ground because of their anatomy, bats can only grovel while moving along the ground

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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 grovel What begins as a modest levy swells into a sprawling system, where bureaucrats decide who pays, who benefits, and who grovels for exemptions. Jon Fleischman, Oc Register, 12 Apr. 2025 Of course, that doesn’t apply in Trump’s government where merit is completely overridden by groveling and total worship of the president. Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Jan. 2025 But the argument that the US has often leveled — that China is a predatory actor on the world stage, using trade and investment to bend countries to its will — has become harder to make in a world where the president of the United States is bragging about the countries coming to grovel before him. Joshua Keating, Vox, 7 Dec. 2018 It is predicated on fealty to the Big Lie, familial ties and a self-deprecating willingness to grovel before indecency. Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 29 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for grovel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grovel
Verb
  • What is transgressive, indie and anti-woke today will one day be normie, derivative, and cringe.
    John McDermott, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2025
  • Her post-Sisterhood career has featured roles in horror flicks (The Grudge 2), cringe comedies (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret), medical dramas (House), and sitcoms (Two and a Half Men).
    EW.com, EW.com, 28 June 2025
Verb
  • In particular, website owners and SEO experts wanted to know how Cloudflare planned to block Google's bot from scraping sites to fuel AI overviews without risking blocking the same bot from crawling for valuable search engine placements.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 9 July 2025
  • Both are unable, under any circumstances, to resist crawling under someone doing a downward-facing dog.
    Erika Sjule, New Yorker, 8 July 2025
Verb
  • When the conversation turned to the metaphorical messes — like heartbreak — the 54-year-old didn’t flinch.
    Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 3 July 2025
  • Judge Subramanian didn’t flinch, siding with the government.
    Danielle Bacher, People.com, 3 July 2025
Verb
  • Battling Tool Sprawl Decision fatigue creeps in when consultants juggle a dozen unintegrated AI assistants, each with its own prompt syntax, data connectors and permission model.
    Noah Ohrner, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
  • From the Viking Mars orbiters and landers of the 1970s through the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, which are still operating today, the Red Planet has crept from the dreadful waste seen by Mariner 4 to a place once covered in shallow oceans and with a possibly temperate atmosphere.
    Rod Pyle, Space.com, 14 July 2025
Verb
  • Argentina’s lessons for the current moment are multiple: When tyrants threaten, more people and institutions may cower than resist; the loss of checks on state violence can be catastrophic; and no one knows who the next victim will be.
    Julia M. Klein, The Atlantic, 11 July 2025
  • Since Trump’s inauguration, many brands have cowered to the U.S. president’s demands to roll back DEI initiatives.
    Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 22 May 2025
Verb
  • Her group of spies, scouts, and other freedom fighters piloted three Union steamboats snaking up the lower Combahee River with Colonel James Montgomery of the Second South Carolina Volunteers and one battery of the Third Rhode Island Artillery.
    Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 19 July 2025
  • Younger sister Elle wore a black silk slip dress that hit just below the knee, with sheer straps and panelling that snaked down the bodice with light embroidery, paired with black kitten heels and a small rectangular clutch bag.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 16 July 2025
Verb
  • Banks will slide into left guard, while Elgton Jenkins — who has 67 career starts at that position — will move to center.
    Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
  • When Gleyber Torres departed in free agency, New York slid Jaz Chisholm Jr. to second base and plugged Oswaldo Cabrera in at third base.
    Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
Verb
  • On July 1, a snake slithered its way onto a Virgin Australia flight from Melbourne to Brisbane, per the Associated Press and ABC News.
    Colson Thayer, People.com, 10 July 2025
  • Literally every animal that can fly, walk, crawl or slither into your yard will do so at some point to eat your chickens, their eggs, and their food.
    Sal Gilbertie, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Grovel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grovel. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

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