grope
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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
-
has gropedperfect
-
am gropingprogressive
-
are gropingprogressive
-
is gropingprogressive
-
have been gropingperfect progressive
-
has been gropingperfect progressive
Past
-
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:
Mukesh became the first seamer other than Bumrah or Anderson to take a wicket in the series and the stage was set for Ashwin, only for Bumrah to whistle through Hartley's defensive grope.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2024
You grope your way through the phantom market, sometimes to the amused observation of waiting visitors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2023
The grinning actors grope for meaning that lies beneath.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 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
His naked eyes shrank to fluttering little dots as he went down to grope around his feet.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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 endows his blighted characters with an instinctive gift for poetry that gropes for patterns in a random and unforgiving universe.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2016
He gropes around in the inside pocket of his jacket, only to grasp a handful of teabags.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 6, 2012
Justyce rolls over onto his back and gropes around for his cell phone.
From "Dear Martin" by Nic Stone
Andy Robertson gave it away in a hurry, Scotland lost the collision, Bruno Guimaraes dinked it to the back post, Gunn groped at air and Nathan Patterson lost Vini Jr. How could he miss him?
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
The board groped its way through early decisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 11, 2026
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, is pressing charges against a man who groped her on the street and is pushing nationwide measures against sexual harassment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2025
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
He groped for a pen and pad of paper; Mr. Sloat handed them to him.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
“You’re groping in the dark a little bit more.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
Selecting Isak ahead of him lacked logic, smacking of a manager groping for answers, almost trying to get an expensive signing to play himself into the team.
From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025
Iran and the United States are groping their way out of several simultaneous crises, including over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
From New York Times ● May 19, 2024
“We are but darkened groping souls, that know not the light often because of its very blinding radiance,” wrote W.E.B.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2024
We went on our way upstairs after this episode; and, as we were going up, we met a gentleman groping his way down.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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.
