grope
Americanverb (used without object)
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gropes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
groped,
past participle, past
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groping
present participle
verb (used with object)
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gropes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
groped,
past participle, past
-
groping
present participle
-
to seek by or as if by groping.
to grope one's way up the dark stairs.
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Slang. to touch or fondle (someone) for sexual pleasure, especially without the person’s consent.
noun
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gropes
plural
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an act or instance of groping.
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Slang. an act or instance of sexually fondling another person.
verb
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to feel or search about uncertainly (for something) with the hands
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(intr; usually foll by for or after) to search uncertainly or with difficulty (for a solution, answer, etc)
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(tr) to find or make (one's way) by groping
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slang (tr) to feel or fondle the body of (someone) for sexual gratification
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gropesimple
-
gropessimple
-
have gropedperfect
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has gropedperfect
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am gropingprogressive
-
are gropingprogressive
-
is gropingprogressive
-
have been gropingperfect progressive
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has been gropingperfect progressive
Past
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gropedsimple
-
had gropedperfect
-
was gropingprogressive
-
were gropingprogressive
-
had been gropingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grope
Before 900; Middle English gropien, Old English grāpian, derivative of grāp “grasp”; akin to gripe, grasp
Explanation
When you grope for something, you try to get a grip on it. If you drop your flashlight in a dark cave, you might grope around for it. Beware of snakes! If you're asked a question and you grope for an answer, you're at a loss for words. And if you can't find your cellphone, you might grope around in your backpack, hoping it just got buried beneath your homework. You can also grope another person, although I wouldn't recommend it: grope is usually used to describe touching that is unwanted.
Vocabulary lists containing grope
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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The Cay
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"Marriage is a Private Affair" by Chinua Achebe
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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:
From a leg-stump line, the ball appeared to then move in the air in the opposite direction, past Cook's crooked grope to kiss the top of off stump.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025
You open your eyes and grope for your phone.
From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2024
You grope your way through the phantom market, sometimes to the amused observation of waiting visitors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
“Here, everything is done in-house by FIFA. So it’s been a really long and arduous process. The terms have been incredibly difficult for cities to grope with.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2022
It must grope after him through the days and across the seas of the sunlit world, and could take visible shape only in dream and darkness.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
A third agent, trying to be helpful, gropes for pepper spray on his tactical vest.
From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026
Partly that’s because most corporate media wouldn’t have carried Hedges’ denunciation of everything it gropes us for.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2019
He slams on the brakes, opens the door, gropes for his cane.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 10, 2018
He gropes for the words and comes up with one of those sparkling gems that Mr. Greenberg delivers with such gratifying frequency.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2016
Starry gropes after the material that's been yanked from her hands, but it falls out of reach and the whole quilt tumbles down the chute.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
The board groped its way through early decisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
A former model has alleged in a CNN interview that she was groped by former President Donald Trump in the 1990s.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2024
A Loudoun County jury found former superintendent Scott Ziegler guilty of unlawfully discharging a teacher who reported being repeatedly groped by a student.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
While we groped for something solid to hold onto, they waited behind us, often with huge baskets of cargo balanced on their heads.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
But his paws groped at the open air, the wispy silhouette unaffected by his futile attempt.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
“You’re groping in the dark a little bit more.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
We’ve been groping through this land of disbelief for some time now.
From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2026
Carlton Huffman, 40, had accused Mr. Schlapp, 56, the head of the American Conservative Union and an adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, of groping him after a campaign event in Georgia in 2022.
From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
Alex Goode, now 35, swapped passes with England captain Owen Farrell and sidestepped his way through a groping Quins defence to lead a 30-metre charge.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2023
He wavered, groping in his pocket, and then fought with himself again; and as he did so the arm crept nearer.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
