grovel
Americanverb (used without object)
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grovels,
present (3rd person singular)
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groveled,
past participle, past
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grovelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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groveling,
present participle
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grovelling
present participle (especially British)
verb
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to humble or abase oneself, as in making apologies or showing respect
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to lie or crawl face downwards, as in fear or humility
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(often foll by in) to indulge or take pleasure (in sensuality or vice)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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grovelernoun
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grovellernoun
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grovellingnoun
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ungrovelingadjective
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ungrovellingadjective
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grovelinglyadverb
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grovellinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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grovelsimple
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grovelssimple
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have groveledperfect
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have grovelledperfect
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has groveledperfect
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has grovelledperfect
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am grovelingprogressive
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am grovellingprogressive
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are grovelingprogressive
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are grovellingprogressive
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is grovelingprogressive
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is grovellingprogressive
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have been grovelingperfect progressive
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have been grovellingperfect progressive
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has been grovelingperfect progressive
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has been grovellingperfect progressive
Past
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groveledsimple
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grovelledsimple
-
had groveledperfect
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had grovelledperfect
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was grovelingprogressive
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was grovellingprogressive
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were grovelingprogressive
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were grovellingprogressive
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had been grovelingperfect progressive
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had been grovellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grovel
1585–95; back formation from obsolete groveling (adv.), equivalent to obsolete grufe face down (< Old Norse ā grūfu face down) + -ling 2, taken to be present participle
Explanation
To grovel is to beg like a hungry dog. You don't have to be a canine though; you might grovel for a better grade (please don't). If you grovel you risk getting the opposite of what you want, because people (like teachers) don't like people down at their feet begging for something. But if you cheat on your date, you may have to grovel to get him or her back. Grovel also means to crawl around on your belly — you could grovel on gravel, but that might really hurt. The word comes from the Vikings; in Old Norse the word grufe means "prone" (lying flat) which is probably how Vikings liked to see the people they were conquering. You grovel when you want something but also when you're afraid.
Vocabulary lists containing grovel
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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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:
Absolutely, but Colin is eager to please and genuinely loves to grovel.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2025
On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul made Suozzi drive to Albany to all but grovel for her support.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
A Syracuse University dean performed a similar grovel for the same offense.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 21, 2022
You have to grovel for it to run for office, and you don't get paid much of it if you're a member of the press.
From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2022
He refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing him grovel.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Instead of mandating, directing, or using the word “shall,” the code grovels before its own authors, flattering them with meek suggestions that justices “should,” “should not” and might “endeavor to” act in certain ways.
From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2023
It’s easy for an ego like his to grow wings and fly when, even as a washed-up quarterback, an NFL coach grovels for your services.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 9, 2022
Kichijiro, who enters grunting and twitching, as if in homage to Toshiro Mifune, and grovels at the priest’s feet, also seems on hand as much for comic relief as for guidance.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2016
"To Entertain a Small Hope That Might Allay My Heartache" features a letter in which Kemal grovels, still in its envelope.
From New York Times ● Oct. 4, 2012
The sublimity of it shrivels man's pitiful egoism until he grovels in humility and awe.
From The Song of the Wolf by Frank Mayer
For exactly a quarter of a century, I’ve grasped and groveled and guessed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
“Blonde” wants you to believe that one of Hollywood’s most enduring icons was a haunted, hated sad sack who cried, screamed and groveled her way through film history.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 23, 2022
Franchises, of course, have always pandered — it’s in their D.N.A. — but rarely has one groveled quite so thirstily for fan approval.
From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
He groveled, and then hedged, then tried to walk it all back with the absurdly laughable claim that he confused the word “would” for “wouldn’t”.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 22, 2018
Patsy bowed and groveled a bit when I turned to face him, but said nothing.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
It quotes: "Even if he grovelled to us on his knees, it wouldn't be enough."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
There’s not an artist out there who hasn’t grovelled on the path to greatness, and getting through school isn’t an impediment to a musical career but a platform to build one on.
From The Guardian ● May 21, 2017
"I really didn't mean to imply Becky had failed in any way," she later grovelled.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 4, 2012
Less than three months after their foolish decision, Coke’s bosses grovelled to customers and reintroduced classic Coke.
From Economist ● Mar. 29, 2012
He grovelled on the ground and could speak no clear words but nice master.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
They want illiterate, groveling serfs, who live in fear and don’t stick around too long.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025
The protests in 2021 led to the clubs that backed out issuing groveling apologies to their fans for their part in the plans.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 21, 2023
In the heartstopping series finale of “Succession” on Sunday night, striving Midwesterner Tom Wambsgans was named chief executive of Waystar Royco, completing his transformation from groveling buffoon to business titan.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2023
They’re driving race cars and apologizing for tech failures after hosting online events and writing groveling appeals to the commons like The Habsburg Way.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2023
He shuffled forward on his knees, groveling, his hands clasped in front of him as though praying.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
"Trying to run around with your hand outstretched, grovelling, begging for money, is pointless," Putin said in a televised address to Russia's political, military and business elite.
From Reuters ● Feb. 21, 2023
But its immediate collapse ended hopes of those new sources of income and forced the Glazers and FSG to make grovelling apologies to fans.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 27, 2022
There may be some grovelling involved and the swagger may diminish for a time, but the 12 clubs still have power through popularity and status - and they know it.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2021
This he said fatherly in his love, kissing my hands and grovelling at my feet; and with tears he named me, not daughter, but lady.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019
“He’s harmless, mei baas,” Granny went on in the most grovelling of voices.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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.
