grateful
Americanadjective
-
warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful.
I am grateful to you for your help.
-
expressing or actuated by gratitude.
a grateful letter.
-
pleasing to the mind or senses; agreeable; welcome.
a grateful breeze;
The peace and calm of the hill country is a grateful relief.
- Synonyms:
- gratifying, pleasant
adjective
-
thankful for gifts, favours, etc; appreciative
-
showing gratitude
a grateful letter
-
favourable or pleasant
a grateful rest
Usage
Spelling tips for grateful The word grateful is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it is tempting to spell grate- "great." Second, people often want to add an additional l to the end of the word -ful. How to spell grateful: When you are grateful, you are full of gratitude. The beginning of the words are similar. This helps you remember that grateful is spelled grate- instead of great-. It's important to be grateful for what Little you have, which is why you only need one l at the end of the word.
Synonym Usage
Grateful, thankful describe an appreciative attitude for what one has received. Grateful indicates a warm or deep appreciation of personal kindness as shown to one: grateful for favors; grateful to one's neighbors for help in time of trouble. Thankful indicates a disposition to express gratitude by giving thanks, as to a benefactor or to a merciful Providence; there is often a sense of deliverance as well as of appreciation: thankful that one's life was spared in an accident; thankful for the comfort of one's general situation.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grateful
First recorded in 1545–55; obsolete grate “pleasing” (from Latin grātus ) + -ful
Compare meaning
How does grateful compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A person who is grateful feels or shows gratitude. If your neighbor brings you soup when you're sick, you'll be very grateful (unless you hate soup). Grateful comes from gratus, Latin for pleasing. Originally it meant pleasing, or agreeable (Walter Scott wrote of "the grateful and cooling shade"), but now means thankful. Usually you are grateful to someone for a particular thing she's done. If you're complaining about all your problems, someone might remind you of what you have to be grateful for.
Vocabulary lists containing grateful
Copper Sun
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Salt to the Sea
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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.
We were grateful for all our readers but unaware of what we meant to most of them.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026
Despite all this, Chas says he is in some ways grateful the experience was so awful.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
"We are deeply grateful for Pierpaolo's contribution to Balenciaga," Balenciaga's chief executive Gianfranco Gianangeli said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
We are profoundly grateful to the journalists, editors, photographers, producers, designers, business teams and countless other colleagues who brought this publication to life across its many chapters.
From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026
Her face went soft for a moment, and I knew she was grateful to see I wasn’t holding a grudge.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
