Adjacent Words

Grovel definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GROV'EL, v.i. grov'l.
1. To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move with the body prostrate on the earth; to act in a prostrate posture.
Gaze on and grovel on thy face.
To creep and grovel on the ground.
2. To be low or mean; a groveling sense; groveling thoughts.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: show submission or fear [syn: fawn, crawl, creep, cringe, cower, grovel]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb (-eled or -elled; -eling or -elling) Etymology: back-formation from groveling prone, from groveling, adverb, from Middle English, from gruf, adverb, on the face (from Old Norse ? gr?fu) + -ling Date: 1552 1. to creep with the face to the ground ; crawl 2. a. to lie or creep with the body prostrate in token of subservience or abasement b. to abase oneself 3. to give oneself over to what is base or unworthy ; wallow <groveling in self-pity> • groveler noun • grovelingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. (grovelled, grovelling; US groveled, groveling) 1 behave obsequiously in seeking favour or forgiveness. 2 lie prone in abject humility. Derivatives: groveller n. grovelling adj. grovellingly adv. Etymology: back-form. f. obs. grovelling (adv.) f. gruf face down f. on grufe f. ON á grúfu, later taken as pres. part.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Grovel Grov"el, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Groveledor Grovelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Groveling or Grovelling.] [From OE. grovelinge, grufelinge, adv., on the face, prone, which was misunderstood as a p. pr.; cf. OE. gruf, groff, in the same sense; of Scand. origin, cf. Icel. gr[=u]fa, in [=a] gr[=u]fu on the face, prone, gr[=u]fa to grovel.] 1. To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move uneasily with the body prostrate on the earth; to lie fiat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl. To creep and grovel on the ground. --Dryden. 2. To tend toward, or delight in, what is sensual or base; to be low, abject, or mean.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(grovels, grovelling, grovelled) Note: in AM, use 'groveling', 'groveled' 1. If you say that someone grovels, you think they are behaving too respectfully towards another person, for example because they are frightened or because they want something. I don't grovel to anybody... Speakers have been shouted down, classes disrupted, teachers made to grovel. ...a letter of grovelling apology. VERB: V to/before n, V, V-ing [disapproval] 2. If you grovel, you crawl on the ground, for example in order to find something. We grovelled around the club on our knees. VERB: V prep/adv, also V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Creep, crawl, sneak, fawn, cringe, lie low, lie prone. 2. Behave abjectly, be mean, be low, tend downward, tend to the base and mean.

Moby Thesaurus

apple-polish, be promiscuous, bend, bend the knee, bend the neck, bend to, bootlick, bow, bow and scrape, bow down, bow to, chase women, commit adultery, couch, cower, crawl, creep, cringe, cringe to, crouch, crouch before, curtsy, debauch, dissipate, do homage, do obeisance, fawn, flatter, flounder, fornicate, genuflect, get down, go on tiptoe, gumshoe, hug the earth, hunch, hunch down, inch, inch along, kneel, kneel to, knuckle to, kowtow, lay, lick the dust, lickspittle, lie, lie down, lie flat, lie limply, lie low, lie prone, lie prostrate, lie under, loll, lounge, nightwalk, pad, philander, prowl, pussyfoot, rake, recline, repose, roll, scrabble, scramble, scrouch down, sidle, sleep around, slink, snake, sneak, sprawl, squat, steal, steal along, stoop, swing, tippytoe, tiptoe, toadeat, toady, truckle, truckle to, tumble, underlie, wallow, wanton, welter, whore, womanize, worm, worm along