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groveled

verb

variants or grovelled
past tense of grovel
1
as in cringed
to draw back or crouch down in fearful submission the way in which the abused dog would grovel whenever its owner came near

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for groveled
  1. cringed
  2. crawled
  3. flinched
  4. crept
  5. cowered
  6. slid
  7. snaked
  8. slithered
Verb
  • So when there was a kissing scene, Larry cringed, just cringed.
    — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Mingione cringed when asked if any of his players had gotten hurt by a hit by pitch.
    — Mitch Light, New York Times, 22 May 2026
Definition of cringed
Verb
  • Each tool sharpened one department, and the work still crawled between them, because nobody was ever asked to own the crawling.
    — Krupesh Bhat, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
  • One roach crawled on glassware in the dishwashing area and eight were under the dishwasher.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of crawled
Verb
  • The teen in the green sweatshirt, Williams, momentarily flinched from the gunshot.
    — Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Sipp slightly flinched his left arm before throwing a pitch to Emmanuel Burriss, allowing Miguel Tejada to score and sending San Francisco to its fourth straight win.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026
Definition of flinched
Verb
  • The location opened Monday, welcoming a consistent rush of customers into the space, even as the afternoon waned and crept into the neither-lunch-nor-dinner hours.
    — Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Tech has crept into every facet of everyday life, like an invisible fog of ones and zeros.
    — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of crept
Verb
  • Not the kind who cowered from viruses and obsessed over death.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
  • The other customers cowered in the corners, while crowds formed at the windows outside, shrieking and recording the scene on their phones.
    — Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 10 July 2026
Definition of cowered
Verb
  • The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims slid to 196,000, the fewest since mid-July and down from 206,000 the week before.
    — Paul Wiseman, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Carter slid inside and Thibodeaux rushed from the edge on third-and-5 late in the first half.
    — Dan Duggan, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of slid
Verb
  • Demands for the exclusive event pins exceeded common sense and ventured into the absurd with haphazard lines that snaked through the convention center.
    — Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • But the real action was in line for the Breen meet and greet, which snaked across the lobby of the Regal’s mezzanine level after the second screening.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of snaked
Verb
  • The snake, later identified as an approximately eight-foot-long Burmese python, had slithered beneath the floor of a wooden shed.
    — Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Laura stepped right into her body, felt a small resistance and then the give as the rival slithered, eagerly, into the air.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 July 2026
Definition of slithered
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.

Browse Nearby Words

grovel
groveled
groveler
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Cite this Entry

“Groveled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveled. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

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