granny
Americannoun
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Informal. a grandmother.
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an elderly woman.
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a fussy person.
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Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. a nurse or midwife.
adjective
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of, relating to, or thought to be like a grandmother or an elderly or old-fashioned woman.
granny notions about what's proper.
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(of clothing for women or girls) being loose-fitted and having such features as high necklines, puff sleeves, long skirts, and ruffles and lace trimmings.
a granny blouse; a granny nightgown.
noun
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informal words for grandmother
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informal an irritatingly fussy person
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a revolving cap on a chimneypot that keeps out rain, etc
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a midwife or nurse
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See granny knot
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of granny
1655–65; grand(mother) + -y 2, with -nd- > -nn-
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 group, currently numbering 12, envisages growing food to sell, holding workshops and retreats - and even setting up a "granny agency" to look after children.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Her look evolves from a worn-out cog to a biker-like granny who’d seem natural riding on the back of Dennis Hopper’s hog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026
Kids are chatting or walking—solo, in pairs or trios—and a mother or granny holds a girl’s hand, probably waiting for an older sibling to come out of school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
"Junk food was something that we looked up to because my granny didn't always have money, so it was a token of celebration."
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
“But it’s hard to tell you about the story. You see, granny, everybody knows that the story isn’t true, but . . .” “Then why write it?” she asked.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
“We thought, ‘This is a game of diminishing returns and we will be playing grannies.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024
These glamorous grannies are modelling for social media.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024
The Duchess of York was recently saying, "I can picture us being grannies together."
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2023
On occasion, the grannies do more than help out at bus stations.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
The old grannies my mom hired to look after me while she was at work?
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
Even in the granniest of granny gears, it’s impossible for me to pedal smoothly up pitches with grades approaching, and sometimes exceeding, 13 percent.
From Washington Post ● May 27, 2022
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.
