groove

American  

[groov] / gruv /

noun

• grooves
  plural

1. a long, narrow cut or indentation in a surface, as the cut in a board to receive the tongue of another board tongue-and-groove joint, a furrow, or a natural indentation on an organism.

2. the track or channel of a phonograph record for the needle or stylus.

3. a fixed routine.

   to get into a groove.

   Synonyms:

   pattern, habit, rut

4. Printing. the furrow at the bottom of a piece of type.

5. Slang. an enjoyable time or experience.

---

verb (used with object)

• grooves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grooved,
  past participle,  past
• grooving
  present participle

1. to cut a groove in; furrow.

2. Slang.

   1. to appreciate and enjoy.

   2. to please immensely.

verb (used without object)

• grooves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grooved,
  past participle,  past
• grooving
  present participle

1. Slang.

   1. to take great pleasure; enjoy oneself.

      He was grooving on the music.

   2. to get along or interact well.

2. to fix in a groove.

idioms

1. in the groove,

   1. in perfect functioning order.

   2. in the popular fashion; up-to-date.

      If you want to be in the groove this summer, you'll need a bikini.

groove British  

/ ɡruːv /

noun

1. a long narrow channel or furrow, esp one cut into wood by a tool

2. the spiral channel, usually V-shaped, in a gramophone record See also microgroove

3. one of the spiral cuts in the bore of a gun

4. anatomy any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part; sulcus

5. mountaineering a shallow fissure in a rock face or between two rock faces, forming an angle of more than 120°

6. a settled existence, routine, etc, to which one is suited or accustomed, esp one from which it is difficult to escape

7. slang an experience, event, etc, that is groovy

8. 1. jazz playing well and apparently effortlessly, with a good beat, etc

   2. fashionable

---

verb

1. (tr) to form or cut a groove in

2. old-fashioned (intr) to enjoy oneself or feel in rapport with one's surroundings

3. (intr) jazz to play well, with a good beat, etc

groove More Idioms  

1. see in the groove.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• groover
  noun
• regroove
  verb (used with object)
• grooveless
  adjective
• groovelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grooves
  plural

Participles

• grooving
  present
• grooved
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• groove
  simple
• grooves
  simple
• have grooved
  perfect
• has grooved
  perfect
• am grooving
  progressive
• are grooving
  progressive
• is grooving
  progressive
• have been grooving
  perfect progressive
• has been grooving
  perfect progressive

Past

• grooved
  simple
• had grooved
  perfect
• was grooving
  progressive
• were grooving
  progressive
• had been grooving
  perfect progressive

Future

• will groove
  simple
• will have grooved
  perfect
• will be grooving
  progressive
• will have been grooving
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of groove

1350–1400; Middle English grofe, groof mining shaft; cognate with Middle Dutch groeve, Dutch groef, German Grube pit, ditch; akin to grave ¹

Explanation

A groove is an indentation or rut in something — like the grooves on an old record. Groove is rooted in an old Dutch word for "furrow" or "ditch." And that's just what a groove is: a carved out line, like wheel ruts in a muddy road or the narrow opening that a sliding door moves in. If you can't "find your groove," you feel off track and out of whack. But when you're "in the groove," everything is working smoothly and you've found a good routine. And if someone says "let's groove!", they want to dance.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

groove grooves grooved grooving

The bone has short projections extending outward that resemble horns, and it lacks a ventral median groove.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

“It takes people three months to get in the groove with it,” Mecham said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Yet the trick of this irresistible groove is that it feels like a house party caving in on itself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

Pharrell’s ad-libs and inserts interrupting the groove at perfect intervals to wake up the dancefloor.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

By Friday the flower hung down over the rim of the waterless vase, its dead stump of a head shedding yellow dust in the pencil groove.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

Instead, land-based bacteria consumed parts of the bones, while plant roots carved long grooves across their surfaces.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

Paired with bubbly disco grooves and chant-along choruses, the band became gay icons overnight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Over subsequent releases – the exuberant Shooting Star, external, or the braggadocious Woke Up, external – they crystallised a musical vision that fused sci-fi aesthetics to the elastic grooves of 90s R&B.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

At first glance, grooves on fossil teeth may sound trivial.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026

The lines are grooves or cracks, their origin still being debated long after the mission.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Rushing hammered the grooved fastball to left-center field, just shy of the Citizens Bank Park concourse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Three pitches into the bottom of the sixth, Sheehan grooved a fastball to Marsh, and he hit it out for a 5-3 lead.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

On the floors of many valleys and craters, swirling, grooved patterns reveal where icy material once moved during an earlier martian ice age.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2025

At one end of the channel, the researchers inserted 3D-printed structures resembling the grooved plates that run along the floor of the mobula ray's mouth.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024

His deeply grooved face glowed in the firelight.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

He tells Newsbeat he finds creating and attending dance events "just changes something in your brain because you're just there grooving non-stop".

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

The singer is seen grooving to his hit “Baile Inolvidable” with people of all ages in the trailer, released in mid-January.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026

Mr. Cameron’s characters must learn the gentle wisdom of grooving along with nature, literally making themselves a part of Pandora in gestures of eco-unity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

Even in its earliest manifestations, there was a peculiar combination of grooving energy and inherent sadness in their music that would pervade their hitmaking efforts with Fleetwood Mac and beyond.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2024

Walking back to the car, Molly sees Jack through the windshield, eyes closed, grooving out to a song she can’t hear.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline

Related Words

• trench