groom
Americannoun
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grooms
plural
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a bridegroom.
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a man or boy in charge of horses or the stable.
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any of several officers of the English royal household.
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Archaic. a manservant.
verb (used with object)
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grooms,
present (3rd person singular)
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groomed,
past participle, past
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grooming
present participle
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to tend carefully as to person and dress; make neat or tidy.
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to clean, brush, and otherwise tend (a horse, dog, etc.).
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to prepare (a trail) for a specific use, such as skiing, biking, or hiking.
The resort is currently grooming 7 miles of cross-country ski trails for your enjoyment this winter.
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to prepare for a position, election, etc..
Both of these young goalies are being groomed for roles in the NHL.
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to condition or manipulate (a victim) emotionally over time, as through friendship, gifts, flattery, etc., in order to entrap the person in a sexually abusive or predatory relationship.
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(of an animal) to tend (itself or another) by removing dirt, parasites, or specks of other matter from the fur, skin, feathers, etc.: often performed as a social act.
noun
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a person employed to clean and look after horses
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See bridegroom
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any of various officers of a royal or noble household
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archaic a male servant or attendant
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archaic a young man
verb
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to make or keep (clothes, appearance, etc) clean and tidy
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to rub down, clean, and smarten (a horse, dog, etc)
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to train or prepare for a particular task, occupation, etc
to groom someone for the Presidency
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to win the confidence of (a victim) in order to a commit sexual assault on him or her
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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groomernoun
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groomingnoun
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regroomverb (used with object)
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groomishadjective
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nongroomingadjective
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ungroomedadjective
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groomishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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groomsimple
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groomssimple
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have groomedperfect
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has groomedperfect
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am groomingprogressive
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are groomingprogressive
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is groomingprogressive
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have been groomingperfect progressive
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has been groomingperfect progressive
Past
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groomedsimple
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had groomedperfect
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was groomingprogressive
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were groomingprogressive
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had been groomingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of groom
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English grom, grome, groum “infant boy, boy, youth, groom”; further origin obscure; akin to grow
Explanation
To groom means to take care of the appearance, whether it's plucking eyebrows or combing hair. When you spend over an hour grooming in the bathroom, combing your mustache and buffing your nails, you drive everyone else who needs to use the bathroom crazy. You can groom something besides a person. Resorts groom their golf courses and ski runs. If you own a horse, you groom it every day. Animals groom each other by picking off insects and licking at fur. You can also use groom in regards to the mind. If you are being groomed for a certain spot or position, you are being prepared to take over its activities and responsibilities. Let's hope that you will someday be groomed for a spot on an executive board. And last but not least, the man getting married at a wedding is the groom.
Vocabulary lists containing groom
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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:
Although neither bride nor groom is Scottish, both say they feel a deep connection to the country.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Under a microscope, researchers watched the sea spider wrap these appendages around its legs and use comb-like spines to groom and clean its body.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
At the Sunday reception, the couple had their first dance, with Bettina Trump wearing her wedding dress, and ate a five-tier wedding cake topped with a miniature bride and groom.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
If you’re close to the bride or groom, you can share more details about why you are declining.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
And if the groom seemed a little distracted, well, the bride was as glowing and lovely as ever any bride has been.
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
Some brides are still adjusting to grooms with louder opinions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
He grooms them, administers their daily doses of medicine by hand and recognizes their individual personalities.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
India brides and grooms prepping with weight-loss drugs.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
To mitigate the risk, grooms took the animals out for a few minutes at a time for light exercise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
Though the trainer hardly ever said anything, there was an air to him that day that told the grooms how special the horse was to him.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
"The National Intelligence Service currently assesses that Kim Ju Ae is being groomed as the successor and understands she has a younger sibling of unknown gender," the agency said, reaffirming its conclusion on succession.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Under Mitchell, Pecora showed, the nation’s largest bank had become an impeccably groomed racketeering enterprise, dressing up crooked enterprises as gilt-edged to sell their bonds and stocks to unsuspecting buyers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Like Bukele, de la Espriella sports a meticulously groomed beard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
After defending Jackson many times previously, including on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in 2010, all five of the family’s adult children say they were groomed to protect him.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
His white beard and hair were long, but combed and groomed.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Prigozhin’s success fulfilled the ambitions of his father, who spent years grooming him for the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026
Across from the main entertaining spaces sits a six-stall barn complete with an executive office, staff quarters, three grooming stations, a feed kitchen, and storage.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Beware of lilies, which are toxic to cats; even chewing the leaves or licking pollen off their fur while grooming can be fatal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
Is male grooming changing or the same as it always was?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The war—” “Leave your fantasy life out of this. We’re grooming you for the Olympics, pal, in 1944.”
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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