grinch

American  

[grinch] / grɪntʃ /

noun

• grinches
  plural

1. a person or thing that spoils or dampens the pleasure of others.

---

grinch British  

/ ɡrɪntʃ /

noun

1. informal a person whose lack of enthusiasm or bad temper has a depressing effect on others

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• grinches
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grinch

Coined by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) in the children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957), the Grinch being the central misanthropic character

Explanation

A grinch is a person who's so cranky and mean-spirited that they want to ruin everyone else's fun. If you keep being such a grinch, your friends will start to avoid you! Dr. Seuss didn't coin grinch when he wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but he is credited with turning it into a familiar, everyday word. Before the book was published in 1957, other unpleasant literary characters had the name Grinch, and the verb grinching was used to mean "a harsh, grating noise." Describing someone as a grinch today means they're a killjoy or party pooper, trying to make everyone feel as bad as they do.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grinch grinches

Signs like “Seat belts are in, everybody’s wearing them” and “Don’t be a grinch, let them merge” are to be phased out by 2026.

From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2024

I don’t mean to be a grinch; Christmas and New Year’s are worthy observations, not media distractions, but could the timing be worse?

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2023

There’s also tree decorating, stressful last-minute mall shopping and Wolverine being an absolute grinch but saving the life of a young underground Morlock.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 11, 2021

Maybe I’m a grinch but that seems like an enormous amount to spend on a made-up holiday.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 15, 2020

The Christmas grinch was as busy as ever.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 28, 2015

We are more than halfway through the North American installment of Gianni Infantino’s bedazzled global soccer smorgasbord, and even the ball-deflating soccer grinches among us must confess the action’s been…fairly irresistible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

Everywhere I turned, I saw decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all merged into a torture chamber bedecked with lighted trees, inflatable grinches, pumpkins, scarecrows and turkey fryers.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 22, 2022

But as he stood at his corner on Saturday evening, White told the station that two grinches began pelting him with eggs.

From Fox News ● Dec. 22, 2021

People who complain about them are sourpusses and grinches.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2015

But she feared turning over rights to use the elf, lest the networks prove to be corporate grinches.

From Inc ● Nov. 23, 2011