grampa
Americannoun
Usage
What does grampa mean? Grampa is an informal word for grandfather—the father of a person’s parent.It’s a variant of the word grandpa, which is commonly pronounced like grampa.Grampa should be capitalized when it’s used as a proper name, as in Please tell Grampa that I miss him. But grampa does not need to be capitalized when it’s simply used as a way to refer to him, as in Please tell my grampa that I miss him. Example: It doesn’t matter what you call your grampa, as long as you call him.
Etymology
Origin of grampa
First recorded in 1850–55; alteration of grandpa ( def. )
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.
I wasn’t sure just how Mr. Patterson’s grampa mobile translated to a limousine, but I felt so grateful that we might actually get to Maine that I blurted out, “You wanna come too?”
From Literature
“I added the eyelashes and lips. Grampa doesn’t much like them. He’s more of a traditionalist when it comes to lures. And most everything else.”
From Literature
“I made it. My grampa carves them, and I paint them. He was a pretty famous angler. People around here call him Kingfish. I’d love a nickname like that.”
From Literature
Dear Amy: “Grampa” was worried that his grandsons were overweight.
From Washington Post
Grampa: According to statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of childhood obesity in America is truly alarming: “In 2017-18, the prevalence of obesity was 19.3% and affected about 14.4 million children and adolescents. Obesity prevalence was 13.4% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.3% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 21.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds.”
From Washington Post
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.