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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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.
See Examples For:
In May, Steven Schneider, the producer of “Paranormal Activity,” famous for its handheld grainy footage-style filmmaking, announced “Terrarium,” his first hybrid AI horror production.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Tournaments once so defined now blur into adulthood ambivalence, postcards plotted along the timeline of your life, the details growing grainy.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
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
That was how things were until January 25, 2025, when the account uploaded a grainy video of Les Paul and Eddie Van Halen, taken from a 1988 special called “Les Paul & Friends.”
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
I thought if I could sneak my phone aboard, I could snap some grainy photos, record some video, maybe grab GPS coordinates to prove I wasn’t lying.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
The texture is slightly grainier than some of the other butters I tried, but I didn't mind it.
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2022
Vikram Doctor, a food writer, told me he prefers the grainier texture of chutneys made in a mortar and pestle.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2021
The iPhone 12 Pro Max’s telephoto camera has a slightly longer reach the the 12 Pro’s, but it’s grainier in low light.
From The Verge ● Nov. 9, 2020
Co-founders Caroline Beckman and Nina Church use everything -- seeds, stems, cores and skins -- to retain fiber, which also makes the texture grainier than similar offerings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2016
Its texture was slightly grainier than it should have been, which makes me think I may have beaten the whites a little too long.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Vibrant canary yellow and savoy blue jerseys that cut through even the grainiest television footage.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
It’s a trek that puts Rodrigo in a reflective state, and Lee’s mood-infused film is tailored to appeal to the vintage taste of a Gen Z crowd that loves the grainiest of photo filters.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2022
But he contributed more than some stunning plays that were captured on the grainiest of black-and-white film.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 23, 2021
Styles had the grainiest voice in the group, which often reserved it to arrive just when the verse pushed into the chorus.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2019
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.
