grovel

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“
And all of a sudden John McCain didn't have to grovel, and offer to bus people in from miles away to make his rallies look not so embarrasingly empty.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. intransitive verb To behave in a servile or demeaning manner; cringe.
  2. intransitive verb To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility.
  3. intransitive verb To give oneself over to base pleasures: "Have we not groveled here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?” (Walt Whitman).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Neither Matthew nor anyone else would have the satisfaction of seeing her grovel or beg or break down and cry. —  Mary Balogh - The Secret Pearl
  • TV scripters have one maxim: never mind logic, go for the grovel. —  process 10
  • I didn't fawn or grovel, but showed I was that way inclined. —  process 10
  • He was going to have to apologize to Arabella, grovel, get down on his knees at her feet if necessary. —  The Obedient Bride
  • "I humble myself, grovel, delete all dignity, that you might grant me a boon Be quick," I said. —  F ;SF; - vol 098 issue 06 - June 2000
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

grovel:   grovels
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Back-formation from obsolete groveling, prone, face downward, from Middle English : (on) grufe, face downwards (from Old Norse ā grūfu, from grūfa, to grovel) + -ling, adv. suff.; see -ling2.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formed from the adverb groveling, taken for the present participle of a supposed verb, as darkle similarly from darkling, adv.
 

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/ˈgrɑvl/
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