groove

American  

[groov] / gruv /

noun

• grooves
  plural

1. a long, narrow cut or indentation in a surface, as the cut in a board to receive the tongue of another board tongue-and-groove joint, a furrow, or a natural indentation on an organism.

2. the track or channel of a phonograph record for the needle or stylus.

3. a fixed routine.

   to get into a groove.

   Synonyms:

   pattern, habit, rut

4. Printing. the furrow at the bottom of a piece of type.

5. Slang. an enjoyable time or experience.

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verb (used with object)

• grooves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grooved,
  past participle,  past
• grooving
  present participle

1. to cut a groove in; furrow.

2. Slang.

   1. to appreciate and enjoy.

   2. to please immensely.

verb (used without object)

• grooves,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grooved,
  past participle,  past
• grooving
  present participle

1. Slang.

   1. to take great pleasure; enjoy oneself.

      He was grooving on the music.

   2. to get along or interact well.

2. to fix in a groove.

idioms

1. in the groove,

   1. in perfect functioning order.

   2. in the popular fashion; up-to-date.

      If you want to be in the groove this summer, you'll need a bikini.

groove British  

/ ɡruːv /

noun

1. a long narrow channel or furrow, esp one cut into wood by a tool

2. the spiral channel, usually V-shaped, in a gramophone record See also microgroove

3. one of the spiral cuts in the bore of a gun

4. anatomy any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part; sulcus

5. mountaineering a shallow fissure in a rock face or between two rock faces, forming an angle of more than 120°

6. a settled existence, routine, etc, to which one is suited or accustomed, esp one from which it is difficult to escape

7. slang an experience, event, etc, that is groovy

8. 1. jazz playing well and apparently effortlessly, with a good beat, etc

   2. fashionable

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verb

1. (tr) to form or cut a groove in

2. old-fashioned (intr) to enjoy oneself or feel in rapport with one's surroundings

3. (intr) jazz to play well, with a good beat, etc

groove More Idioms  

1. see in the groove.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• groover
  noun
• regroove
  verb (used with object)
• grooveless
  adjective
• groovelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grooves
  plural

Participles

• grooving
  present
• grooved
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• groove
  simple
• grooves
  simple
• have grooved
  perfect
• has grooved
  perfect
• am grooving
  progressive
• are grooving
  progressive
• is grooving
  progressive
• have been grooving
  perfect progressive
• has been grooving
  perfect progressive

Past

• grooved
  simple
• had grooved
  perfect
• was grooving
  progressive
• were grooving
  progressive
• had been grooving
  perfect progressive

Future

• will groove
  simple
• will have grooved
  perfect
• will be grooving
  progressive
• will have been grooving
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of groove

1350–1400; Middle English grofe, groof mining shaft; cognate with Middle Dutch groeve, Dutch groef, German Grube pit, ditch; akin to grave ¹

Explanation

A groove is an indentation or rut in something — like the grooves on an old record. Groove is rooted in an old Dutch word for "furrow" or "ditch." And that's just what a groove is: a carved out line, like wheel ruts in a muddy road or the narrow opening that a sliding door moves in. If you can't "find your groove," you feel off track and out of whack. But when you're "in the groove," everything is working smoothly and you've found a good routine. And if someone says "let's groove!", they want to dance.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

groove grooves grooved grooving

The bone has short projections extending outward that resemble horns, and it lacks a ventral median groove.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

“It takes people three months to get in the groove with it,” Mecham said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

But he found a groove in the third session, second fastest by just 0.043secs and then nailing a beauty of a final lap.

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

Backed by the beats of reggaeton, a genre that had historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, La Cruz found both his groove and his tribe with hits like “Te Conocí Bailando” and “Quítate La Ropa.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

“I noticed that,” Kote said with a flicker of curiosity, running a finger along the darker groove the letters made in the wood.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

In the new study, researchers examined several kinds of depressions, punctures, holes, and grooves that appeared to have been left by teeth.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

Over subsequent releases – the exuberant Shooting Star, external, or the braggadocious Woke Up, external – they crystallised a musical vision that fused sci-fi aesthetics to the elastic grooves of 90s R&B.

From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026

We found these grooves also appear naturally in wild primates, with little support for tooth-picking as the cause.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026

Todd’s upcoming album builds upon the grooves of his previous work but feels more honest than past releases.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026

The lines were perfectly symmetrical, curving so gracefully from top to bottom that Tree-ear longed to run his finger along the smooth shallow grooves.

From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park

One location stood out due to the discovery of about 80 grooved stone axes, which were used to break down and process ore.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 29, 2026

On the floors of many valleys and craters, swirling, grooved patterns reveal where icy material once moved during an earlier martian ice age.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2025

With one out in the top of the 10th, Kelly grooved an 89.5-mph slider to Caballero, who crushed a two-run homer to left-center for a 9-7 lead.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2024

During Bomba Estéreo’s energizing set, a dozen or so kids, some atop their parents’ bouncing shoulders, grooved to the vibrantly clopping percussion on the hard-surface dance floor laid in front of the stage.

From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2024

Looking around the footprint, I see white roses sticking out from the grooved letters.

From "Towers Falling" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

On those songs, the percussive combination of Messrs. Hussain and Harland is striking—lively and festive on “Jai Ganga”; slyly grooving on “Tagore”; slow and alluring on “Bharati’s Dance, Tempo Divine.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Her pig roast is also part salmon bake and part old-school cookout, a beautiful gathering of nations grooving to an eclectic vibe I’ve tried to replicate here.

From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026

He tells Newsbeat he finds creating and attending dance events "just changes something in your brain because you're just there grooving non-stop".

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

But the galaxy above is a fractalized freak-out: a psychedelic rainbow of delights that makes you think that more than one animator has spent time grooving to Phish in a Berkeley dorm.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2025

And Gerald's always grooving right next to her, watching her every move.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

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