grind on

British

verb

(intr, adverb) to move further relentlessly

the enemy's invasion ground slowly on

"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

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.

The war in Ukraine, and many other wars grind on every day.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2025

But as the chip wars grind on and scarcity shifts from silicon to the inputs that make it usable, owning the water people may be better business than owning the customers who merely use it.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 9, 2025

The next few days could reveal whether the war will come to a halt, at least for a while, or whether the bloody fighting will grind on.

From Slate • Mar. 15, 2024

February is well upon us, and it wouldn’t take a groundhog sighting on Hollywood Boulevard to know that the interminable rituals of Academy Awards season will grind on for another several weeks.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2024

There was nothing to do about the problem, so he gritted his teeth and felt his belly grind on emptiness and promised himself he would scavenge a feast when they arrived in the drowned city.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023