grill
1 Americannoun
-
a grated utensil for broiling meat, fish, vegetables, etc., over a fire; gridiron.
-
a dish of grilled meat, fish, etc.
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Philately. a group of small pyramidal marks, embossed or impressed in parallel rows on certain U.S. and Peruvian stamps of the late 19th century to prevent erasure of cancellation marks.
verb (used with object)
-
grills,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grilled,
past participle, past
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grilling
present participle
-
to broil on a gridiron or other apparatus over or before a fire.
- Synonyms:
- barbecue
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to subject to severe and persistent cross-examination or questioning.
- Synonyms:
- probe, interrogate
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to torment with heat.
- Synonyms:
- torture
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to mark with a series of parallel bars like those of a grill.
verb (used without object)
-
grills,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grilled,
past participle, past
-
grilling
present participle
noun
verb
-
Usual US and Canadian word: broil. to cook (meat, fish, etc) by direct heat, as under a grill or over a hot fire, or (of meat, fish, etc) to be cooked in this way
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(tr; usually passive) to torment with or as if with extreme heat
the travellers were grilled by the scorching sun
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informal (tr) to subject to insistent or prolonged questioning
noun
-
a device with parallel bars of thin metal on which meat, fish, etc, may be cooked by a fire; gridiron
-
a device on a cooker that radiates heat downwards for grilling meat, fish, etc
-
food cooked by grilling
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See grillroom
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
grillsimple
-
grillssimple
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have grilledperfect
-
has grilledperfect
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am grillingprogressive
-
are grillingprogressive
-
is grillingprogressive
-
have been grillingperfect progressive
-
has been grillingperfect progressive
Past
-
grilledsimple
-
had grilledperfect
-
was grillingprogressive
-
were grillingprogressive
-
had been grillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grill
1660–70; 1890–95 grill 1 for def. 6; < French gril gridiron ≪ Latin crātīculum, creātīculō, diminutive of crātis wickerwork, hurdle. See grille
Explanation
Not all grilling involves fire and delicious food. Sometimes, to grill means to ask a person really intense questions, like when you suspect them of doing something wrong and you want to make them confess the truth. Ever seen a film where a police officer puts a bright light in a criminal’s face and screams, “Did you do it?” That’s how you grill someone. You have to be tough on him, and not let him off the hook too easily. Being grilled means you are in the “hot seat,” and it’ll feel like you’re cooking from such a close examination. Better to grill than be grilled, but if you get caught — think of an alibi, quick!
Vocabulary lists containing grill
Blanch, Poach, and Scald: Cooking Methods
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The Poet X
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Inquire Within: Synoynms for "Ask"
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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:
As orders flood into the restaurant via online food delivery services and a walk-up window, a butcher slices through whole chickens while one cook flips thin slabs of steak and chicken on a grill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Blanket beside blanket, grill beside grill, body beside body, fire beside fire.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
"This summer has become so hot that I feel like meat on the grill," the app's developer Yu Min-jun told BBC Korean.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Rare is the suburban grill chef who doesn’t keep an instant-read thermometer in his apron pocket.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
I ask Sneaky when some dude walks over to our spot carrying a grill.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
Possibly singed and mostly sandy, they storm the Mediterranean and return to their grills wet, steaming, and triumphant.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Hunched over sizzling grills and shrouded in smoke, trainees at the Yueyang Barbecue Academy in southern China roast skewer after skewer of succulent beef tendon, perfecting the skills that could land them a restaurant job.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
This July 4, millions of Americans will fire up their grills and cook plenty of burgers and steaks.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
He cooks the players omelets before important matches and grills steaks after huge wins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Once he dismisses us, the congregation goes outside, where a few of the deacons are flipping burgers and hot dogs on the grills.
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
Most items cost between $9 and $15 but some, such as a grilled cheese sandwich, can be found for as little as $2.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The rest of the menu runs the seafood gamut, from grilled whole branzino to New England seafood sauté, along with a smaller selection of steaks.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
That will be Mr. Pork Chop, he said, and our Ragbrai wouldn’t be complete without eating grilled chops at the pink school bus there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
When television journalist Barbara Walters grilled Parton about her looks in a 1977 segment - asking if the singer was a joke - the interviewer arguably met her match.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
I laugh, and as I put my grilled chicken in the bowl, Ms. Weber says, “Okay, that’s it. Go see Mrs. Parker.”
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
Grilling on a sailboat turns out to be much harder than grilling on land where I’m quite proficient.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Owen gets a grilling, which leads to worldwide disparagement on TikTok.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Rapport matters, and if you don’t have confidence in this guy when you are done politely grilling him like a hamburger on the Fourth of July, move on to someone who does.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
But even with their grilling certificate, success is not assured.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
It was the kind of place where you could smell hot dogs and burgers grilling every weekend.
From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate
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.
