grout

American  

[grout] / graʊt /

noun

1. a thin, coarse mortar poured into various narrow cavities, as masonry joints or rock fissures, to fill them and consolidate the adjoining objects into a solid mass.

2. a coat of plaster for finishing a ceiling or interior wall.

3. Usually grouts. lees; grounds.

4. Archaic.

   1. coarse meal or porridge.

   2. grouts, groats.

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verb (used with object)

• grouts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grouted,
  past participle,  past
• grouting
  present participle

1. to fill or consolidate with grout.

2. to use as grout.

grout British  

/ ɡraʊt /

noun

1. a thin mortar for filling joints between tiles, masonry, etc

2. a fine plaster used as a finishing coat

3. coarse meal or porridge

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verb

1. (tr) to fill (joints) or finish (walls, etc) with grout

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grouter
  noun
• ungrouted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• grouting
  present
• grouted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• grout
  simple
• grouts
  simple
• have grouted
  perfect
• has grouted
  perfect
• am grouting
  progressive
• are grouting
  progressive
• is grouting
  progressive
• have been grouting
  perfect progressive
• has been grouting
  perfect progressive

Past

• grouted
  simple
• had grouted
  perfect
• was grouting
  progressive
• were grouting
  progressive
• had been grouting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will grout
  simple
• will have grouted
  perfect
• will be grouting
  progressive
• will have been grouting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of grout

before 1150; Middle English; Old English grūt; see grits, groats, grit

Explanation

Grout is a paste or putty that you use to fill in the spaces between tiles or along the edge of a tub. When grout dries, it keeps tiles in place, and once it's sealed, it protects against moisture. An old-fashioned meaning of grout is "porridge or gruel," from the Old English gruta, "coarse meal," and a root meaning "to grind." These days you don't eat grout, but instead use it in home improvement projects, especially between floor or wall tiles. As a verb, to grout means "to apply grout."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grout grouts grouted grouting

But you don’t have to compute the coefficient to know that matte tiles are better than shiny ones, and small tiles are better than the big ones because the grout lines provide friction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

There were places on the facade where a single tile needed to fit in the grout on the wall.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025

From the acidic brine of pickle juice to the grout between your bathroom tiles, mold can thrive in even the most inhospitable environments.

From National Geographic ● Nov. 10, 2023

“They’re easier to install and remove, and tend to be much thicker, which conceals the imperfections of the wall or grout lines between existing tiles,” he adds.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 9, 2023

Small dark hairs flecked the sink basin, and dust was gathering in the grout lines between the tiles.

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez

For cement-based or latex-modified grouts, it’s safest to work on only about three square feet at a time.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2021

Both sanded and unsanded grouts are cement-based or latex-modified products.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2021

Sanded and unsanded grouts are mixed with water and installation and cleanup are simple.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2021

The size of Longo's voyeuristic images reflects the scale of his essential subject: the American consciousness industry, and the way it grouts every cranny in public life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oatmeal or porridge is always called "grouts"; and the Cotswold native does not talk of hoisting a ladder, but "highsting" is the term he uses.

From A Cotswold Village by J. Arthur Gibbs

The reality, he said, is that the 54 million gallons of sludge will most likely never be removed; he believes it will be grouted and left in place for future generations to deal with.

From New York Times ● May 31, 2023

The floor was grouted over a period of a few days in the late spring 2020.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2022

Some products can even be glued down and grouted to mimic traditional tile.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2020

Each monolith needed a recess where the stone would later be grouted in place, so Boland laid each one on a piece of rigid foam insulation and traced its shape.

From Washington Times ● May 7, 2018

The portion of the tunnel affected was bulkheaded at each end, packed with rubble and grouted with Portland cement mortar injected under pressure through pipes sunk from the street surface above.

From The New York Subway Its Construction and Equipment by Anonymous

Originally envisioned as a means to an end, the express trains, steam trains and mail trains quickly became the focus of my journey, the cities and towns like grouting smoothed around the tracks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025

Crews need to test the road’s base, which includes drilling and grouting of smaller holes and voids in the surrounding area.

From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2025

Once he was inside, Chris noticed problems: "I have a photo where there were actual mushrooms growing out of the grouting in the bathroom," he says.

From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2023

Just a few blocks from the newer memorials, cracks are appearing in the grouting of a 1995 art installation by the sculptor Martin Puryear.

From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2021

Some of the cement grouting between the bricks had to be replaced, and he wrote her name in the new cement.

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

Related Words

• adhesive
• mud
• plaster
• sand