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.
Related Words
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
- gratefully adverb
- gratefulness noun
- overgrateful adjective
- overgratefully adverb
- quasi-grateful adjective
- quasi-gratefully adverb
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:
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’m very grateful to live in a nation where I don’t have to stay where my dad was.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026
Baldoni lawyers Alexandra Shapiro and Jonathan Bach said they were grateful for the dismissal of the “very serious allegations,” adding, “What’s left is a significantly narrowed case.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
Clark says it helped him feel grateful and led to him finding his own relationship with faith.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
“Overall, I’m here and I’m functioning. I feel really grateful to be moving through the world. I think I’m OK, but it’s like a daily struggle, obviously,” she admitted.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 2, 2026
“I’d be grateful for that. But first I need to alert the authorities that my children are alone on Magpie Island.”
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
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.
