grating
1a fixed frame of bars or the like covering an opening to exclude persons, animals, coarse material, or objects while admitting light, air, or fine material.
Physics. diffraction grating.
Origin of grating
1Other definitions for grating (2 of 2)
irritating or unpleasant to one's feelings.
(of a sound or noise) harsh, discordant, or rasping.
Origin of grating
2Other words from grating
- grat·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use grating in a sentence
Since then, edges, bars, or gratings have become the stimuli of choice.
Are We Wired to Be Outside? - Issue 92: Frontiers | Grigori Guitchounts | November 11, 2020 | NautilusEbert called the tourists “ teeth-gratingly broad and obvious”.
But now he began to make such a strange crowing noise, just like a chair drawn heavily and gratingly along a kitchen-floor!
The Grey Woman and other Tales | Mrs. (Elizabeth) Gaskell"Kill 'em both with one stone, then," wheezed the turnkey, gratingly throwing open the door of the cell.
Pierre; or The Ambiguities | Herman MelvilleIt was as though she had physically felt the steel of his blade slide gratingly once more down from her parry.
The Brimming Cup | Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Lift the latch quietly, though, for there is grief in the room, and noise comes harshly and gratingly upon a sorrowing ear.
The Elm Tree Tales | F. Irene Burge SmithAfter all, it was so much simpler than if he had won, for then––then––He laughed gratingly at the thought.
A Breath of Prairie and other stories | Will Lillibridge
British Dictionary definitions for grating (1 of 2)
/ (ˈɡreɪtɪŋ) /
Also called: grate a framework of metal bars in the form of a grille set into a wall, pavement, etc, serving as a cover or guard but admitting air and sometimes light
short for diffraction grating
British Dictionary definitions for grating (2 of 2)
/ (ˈɡreɪtɪŋ) /
(of sounds) harsh and rasping
annoying; irritating
(often plural) something produced by grating
Derived forms of grating
- gratingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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