adjective
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resembling, full of, or composed of grain; granular
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resembling the grain of wood, leather, etc
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photog having poor definition because of large grain size
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grainy
Explanation
Something that's grainy feels rough to the touch, as though it's made of many tiny pieces. A piece of rough sandpaper feels grainy. Cornmeal is grainy, and your floor will feel grainy under your bare feet after your family returns from the beach with sand on their shoes. Grainy things are gritty, textured with little bumps or grains. You'll be disappointed if your birthday cake has a grainy texture. The earliest, thirteenth-century meaning of grainy was "scarlet dye," a result of its Old French root, which had several meanings including "seed" and "berry." The Latin origin is granum, "seed, grain, or small kernel."
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.
Most of the videos disclosed on Friday feature grainy footage captured by US military infrared cameras between 2018 and 2023.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
Between them, chronologically, is a storyline shot in color but with the warm, grainy look of film.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
This is the modern American gothic: grainy photos taken on a MacBook of a teenage girl in a camouflage jacket, holding a gun, and posted on Tumblr.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
It took roughly two weeks of tedious work, sifting through hours of grainy recordings.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Weeks passed at Mrs. Sen’s before he found a blue aerogram, grainy to the touch, crammed with stamps showing a bald man at a spinning wheel, and blackened by postmarks.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
