grapevine
noun
grapevine
1 American
[greyp-vahyn]
/ ˈgreɪpˌvaɪn /
Grapevine
2
American
[greyp-vahyn]
/ ˈgreɪpˌvaɪn /
noun
grapevine
British
/ ˈɡreɪpˌvaɪn /
noun
-
any of several vitaceous vines of the genus Vitis, esp V. vinifera of E Asia, widely cultivated for its fruit (grapes): family Vitaceae
-
informal an unofficial means of relaying information, esp from person to person
-
a wrestling hold in which a wrestler entwines his own leg around his opponent's and exerts pressure against various joints
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grapevine
1645–55; 1860–65, grapevine for def. 2; grape + vine
Explanation
The grapevine is a word for gossip. Anything heard on the grapevine was learned by word of mouth. In the Civil War, a grapevine telegraph was a gadget used for communicating. From there, people started talking about "the grapevine" as a source of information, especially gossip. If you heard from a friend of a friend that another friend is getting married, you heard it on the grapevine. If your cousin's cousin told you about a family scandal, you heard it on the grapevine. The grapevine is unofficial and full of hearsay: what you hear might not be accurate.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Online patient communities work a lot like a neighborhood grapevine," says Ungar.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
Some reporters have gotten Trump’s digits through the grapevine or from colleagues; at least one simply asked him.
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026
Bill Musgrave, then the Golden Bears’ offensive coordinator, had heard about Mendoza through the coaching grapevine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
Again, no one knows for sure, but the grapevine says that Mercedes are ahead.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025
Grandma had already heard it on the grapevine that Shotgun was no more, though she wasn’t the first person people ran to with news.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
The partially-submerged vehicle was removed from near the shoreline of the south side of the lake, with the Grapevine Fire Department Water Rescue Team assisting police in the operation.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
The event, organized by the American Conservative Union, launched with an international summit on March 25, 2026, and runs through March 28 in Grapevine, Texas.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
“I feel like it will make people lazy. If they’re stuck on something they’ll always go to AI,” said Chase Morgan, a 13-year-old in Grapevine, Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
Two people were killed in a crash involving three vehicles on the Grapevine section of the 5 Freeway Thursday around 3 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2025
My mother found out by the "Grapevine telegraph" that I was going to be carried to Kentucky.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves, North Carolina Narratives, Part 1 by Various
"I think this decline is very regrettable," Tariq Lenny Bas, who grew up among the grapevines of western Austria, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
The parachutes floated down toward the coastline, not far from a cluster of makeshift tents, grapevines, fig trees and the outer edge of residential buildings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
“It’s much faster to do, and makes a lot more sense, when you have an entire crew,” he admitted before discussing the tractors, the road trips and the grapevines that keep him grounded.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2024
Consider the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which spreads a disease that kills grapevines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
The decorations even extended to the walls, where grapevines had been cut and woven into wreaths, and then peppered with fall leaves and dried flowers.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
