groove
Americannoun
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grooves
plural
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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.
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the track or channel of a phonograph record for the needle or stylus.
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a fixed routine.
to get into a groove.
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Printing. the furrow at the bottom of a piece of type.
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Slang. an enjoyable time or experience.
verb (used with object)
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grooves,
present (3rd person singular)
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grooved,
past participle, past
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grooving
present participle
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to cut a groove in; furrow.
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Slang.
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to appreciate and enjoy.
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to please immensely.
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verb (used without object)
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grooves,
present (3rd person singular)
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grooved,
past participle, past
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grooving
present participle
-
Slang.
-
to take great pleasure; enjoy oneself.
He was grooving on the music.
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to get along or interact well.
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to fix in a groove.
idioms
noun
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a long narrow channel or furrow, esp one cut into wood by a tool
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the spiral channel, usually V-shaped, in a gramophone record See also microgroove
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one of the spiral cuts in the bore of a gun
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anatomy any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part; sulcus
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mountaineering a shallow fissure in a rock face or between two rock faces, forming an angle of more than 120°
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a settled existence, routine, etc, to which one is suited or accustomed, esp one from which it is difficult to escape
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slang an experience, event, etc, that is groovy
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jazz playing well and apparently effortlessly, with a good beat, etc
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fashionable
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verb
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(tr) to form or cut a groove in
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old-fashioned (intr) to enjoy oneself or feel in rapport with one's surroundings
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(intr) jazz to play well, with a good beat, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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groovesimple
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groovessimple
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have groovedperfect
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has groovedperfect
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am groovingprogressive
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are groovingprogressive
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is groovingprogressive
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have been groovingperfect progressive
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has been groovingperfect progressive
Past
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groovedsimple
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had groovedperfect
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was groovingprogressive
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were groovingprogressive
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had been groovingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing groove
Look Both Ways
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A Single Shard
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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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:
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
Pharrell’s ad-libs and inserts interrupting the groove at perfect intervals to wake up the dancefloor.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
But just when it seemed he’d found a groove, he gave up a momentum-swinging solo home run to Philadelphia’s Brandon Marsh in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 10-7 loss to the Phillies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Lee passed Harry the egg, and Harry dug his fingernails into the groove that ran all the way around it and prised it open.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
Paired with bubbly disco grooves and chant-along choruses, the band became gay icons overnight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Listen closely through the web of startling improvisations on Mr. Sorey’s version of “Effi,” and you can hear Mr. Allen playing traces of Merritt’s alluring bass grooves from the original.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 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
At first glance, grooves on fossil teeth may sound trivial.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026
Rapidly Ranofer explained the hearthstone mold, a stone ground flat, with a bar-shaped depression in the center and little grooves scraped from it to let the air out.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
At one end of the channel, the researchers inserted 3D-printed structures resembling the grooved plates that run along the floor of the mobula ray's mouth.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
The ray is able to swim at just the right speed that water, streaming into its mouth, can form vortices between the grooved plates.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
Muscular go-go dancers grooved in a cloud of rainbow fog while patrons vibed to hits by Selena and Bad Bunny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 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
The hard, grooved candy stick is both sweet and sour, a jolt of flavor so intense I almost swoon.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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
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
The score also plays on the concept of time and uses electronic manipulation for ticking, grooving rhythmic passages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2024
Even in its earliest manifestations, there was a peculiar combination of grooving energy and inherent sadness in their music that would pervade their hitmaking efforts with Fleetwood Mac and beyond.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2024
Walking back to the car, Molly sees Jack through the windshield, eyes closed, grooving out to a song she can’t hear.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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.
