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
  • When the outfits hit social media Sunday morning, many Titans fans cringed.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 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
  • In a historic first, two olive ridley sea turtles crawled out of the sea within the second week of September and laid their eggs in pits of sand in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The technology isn’t perfect, Walsh said; if Gus had crawled beneath a bush to sleep, the camera wouldn’t necessarily find him.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 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
  • Orange is 5-0 for the first time since 2017 and has also crept into the final spot of The Times’ top 25 rankings for the Southland.
    — Caleb Otte, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2026
  • Twisty the clown crept around, Rubber Man made a second appearance, and black dahlias festooned every table.
    — Lauren Sanchez, Vogue, 24 Sep. 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 data dump comes after the Conference Board reported yesterday that its Consumer Confidence Index this month slid to its lowest level since 2014.
    — Alex Harring, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Despite efforts to create buzz around the Barbie brand — including a diabetes Barbie and an autism Barbie — gross billings for Barbie products slid 11% last year, following a similar decline in 2024.
    — Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 30 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
  • Saint Laurent‘s shining gold shoes slithered down the spring 2027 runway on Tuesday to become the talk of Paris Fashion Week, with sculptural snake heels among the collection’s standout footwear.
    — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 30 Sep. 2026
  • 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
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
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Groveled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groveled. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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