grotto
Americannoun
-
grottoes,
plural
-
grottos
plural
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a cave or cavern.
-
an artificial cavernlike recess or structure.
noun
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a small cave, esp one with attractive features
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a construction in the form of a cave, esp as in landscaped gardens during the 18th century
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of grotto
1610–20; < Italian grotta < Vulgar Latin *crupta, for Latin crypta subterranean passage, chamber. See crypt
Explanation
A grotto is a small cave, the kind of place where you feel comfortable, cozy, and protected from the harsh realities outside. This word started in Greek (as the word that also gives us crypt), turned into Latin and then Italian, and finally landed in English in the 1600s as grotto. A grotto can be natural or manmade, but either way, it's a small cave or hidden room with cool and inviting features like a comfy floor or round walls. A grotto is a good place to read, write, or just hang out with friends, especially on a hot summer day.
Vocabulary lists containing grotto
Built To Last: Architectural Parlance
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Bless Me, Ultima
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"Rules of the Game" (from The Joy Luck Club) by Amy Tan
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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 Smyrnaeans have the river Meles, with its lovely water, and at its springs is the grotto, where they say Homer composed his poems," wrote the 2nd-century Greek chronicler and geographer Pausanias.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
JR, dubbed the "French Banksy" after the British street artist, has wrapped the Pont Neuf in fabric painted white, grey and black to create the impression of a rocky grotto.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Nativity play nerves, Santa's grotto queues and Christmas lights crowds can make the festive season a sensory overload for children even before the big day arrives.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025
Twenty years before Tatiana arrived, the tiger grotto was briefly repurposed to house two giant pandas, Yun-Yun and Ying-Xin, who passed through during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before visiting again in 1985.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025
The many potted specimens created a jungled grotto on the far side of the dining room, and the diners within, if any, were well concealed by the delicately swaying fronds.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
But the settings—sailboats, grottoes, caves, lush gardens, elegant townhouses—couldn’t be lovelier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The Jinci Temple and Tianlongshan grottoes, both national heritage sites in Shanxi, have collapsed, and old towers and walls in the province have suffered damage due to unusually heavy rain, it said.
From Reuters ● Jul. 17, 2023
The Afro Mermaid Summit — it's so incredibly important for Black and brown mermaids to be able to come together and have a safe space to swim in these beautiful grottoes.
From Salon ● May 28, 2023
On Thursday, after Francis placed his hand on Benedict’s coffin, 12 pallbearers took it back into St. Peter’s Basilica, where soon after it was enclosed in its two additional layers and buried in the grottoes.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2023
The night creatures returned to their hollows and grottoes, and the birds flitted nervously between the branches, twittering.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
The area is located near caves and grottos, an environment similar to where Brazil's first known spider-parasitic mite species, Charletonia rocciai, was discovered.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 28, 2026
Children would build grottos from the shells and pester passers-by for pennies for their efforts, with cries of "Pray remember the grotto!"
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2025
Many popes are buried in tombs in the grottos underneath St. Peter’s Basilica or in side chapels of the basilica itself, including all of Francis’ recent predecessors.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
It’s one of many such grottos in the region, says the study’s lead author, Laura Shackelford, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 13, 2023
He constructed elaborate fountains, with grottos containing mechanical singing birds.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
