greeting

[gree-ting]

See more synonyms for greeting on Thesaurus.com

noun

the act or words of a person who greets.
a friendly message from someone who is absent: a greeting from a friend in another country.
greetings, an expression of friendly or respectful regard: Send my greetings to your family.

Origin of greeting

before 900; Middle English, Old English gretinge. See greet¹, -ing¹

Related formsgreet·ing·less, adjective

greet

[greet]

verb (used with object)

to address with some form of salutation; welcome.
to meet or receive: to be greeted by cheering crowds; to greet a proposal with boos and hisses.
to manifest itself to: Music greeted his ear as he entered the salon.

verb (used without object)

Obsolete. to give salutations on meeting.

Origin of greet

before 900; Middle English greten, Old English grētan; cognate with German grüssen

Related formsgreet·er, noun

Synonyms for greet

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1. hail, accost.

greet

[greet]Scot. and North England Archaic.

verb (used without object)

to grieve; lament; cry.

verb (used with object)

to lament; bewail.

Origin of greet

before 900; Middle English grete, Old English grǣtan; cognate with ON grāta, Gothic gretan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for greeting

letter, nod, ovation, salute, reception, hello, card, hail, salutation, blow, respects, acknowledgment, testimonial, aloha, note, notice, attention, rumble, regards, address

Examples from the Web for greeting

Contemporary Examples of greeting

Clinton, meanwhile, spent several minutes greeting audience members along the rope line and posing for cellphone selfies.
Hillary Clinton Basks in Labor’s Love: ‘This Is Like a Homecoming!’
David Freedlander
September 16, 2014
Later she explains why typical forms of greeting in Sierra Leone, such as shaking hands and hugging, are no longer acceptable.
Courageous Filmmakers Are Fighting Ebola On Screen
Abby Haglage
August 20, 2014
According to the recipient of his greeting, Patreese Johnson, he said, “I want some of that” and motioned to her crotch.
‘Out in the Night’ and the Redemption of the ‘Killer Lesbian Gang'
Nina Strochlic
June 21, 2014
They accuse old friends and colleagues of terrible things, even if they do something simple like return a greeting on Facebook.
Iran Says Take Off the Veil—and Be Raped
IranWire
June 9, 2014
A city bus rolls past; the driver gives a greeting honk and Furry waves.
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis
Stanley Booth
June 7, 2014

Historical Examples of greeting

I pray you, Alleyne, to give him greeting from me, and to ask him for his titles and coat-armor.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
So, he disregarded Gilder's greeting, and went on speaking to the son.
Within the Law
Marvin Dana
It would be well, perchance, that you should give him greeting from me.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
They did not speak beyond their greeting, until he had gone over the record.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
The good lady, oblivious to the humorous side of her greeting, flushed in anger.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser

British Dictionary definitions for greeting

greeting

noun

the act or an instance of welcoming or saluting on meeting
(often plural)
1. an expression of friendly salutation
2. (as modifier)a greetings card

greet

verb (tr)

to meet or receive with expressions of gladness or welcome
to send a message of friendship to
to receive in a specified mannerher remarks were greeted by silence
to become apparent tothe smell of bread greeted him

Word Origin for greet

Old English grētan; related to Old High German gruozzen to address

greet

verb

(intr) to weep; lament

noun

weeping; lamentation

Word Origin for greet

from Old English grētan, northern dialect variant of grætan; compare Old Norse grāta, Middle High German grazen

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

Word Origin and History for greeting

Old English greting "salutation," verbal noun from gretan (see greet). Related: Greetings. First record of greeting card is from 1876.

greet

Old English gretan "to come in contact with" (in sense of "attack, accost" as well as "salute, welcome," and "touch, take hold of, handle"), from West Germanic *grotjan (cf. Old Saxon grotian, Old Frisian greta, Dutch groeten, Old High German gruozen, German grüßen "to salute, greet"), perhaps originally "to resound" (via notion of "cause to speak"), causative of Proto-Germanic *grætanan, root of Old English grætan (Anglian gretan) "weep, bewail," from PIE *gher- "to call out." Greet still can mean "cry, weep" in Scottish & northern England dialect, though this might be from a different root. Grætan is probably also the source of the second element in regret. Related: Greeted; greeting.