The Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms

granted a sum that will enable her to complete the book. 2 concede, accede (to), cede, give (up), agree (to), consent (to), allow, permit, admit; let: They granted my request for clemency.

--n. 3 gift, present, endowment, bequest, subvention, subsidy, award, grant-in-aid, donation, contribution, concession, allowance: He received a government grant to study abroad.

granular adj. grainy, granulated, particulate, comminuted, gravelly, sandy, gritty: The sauce was somewhat granular and tasted too strongly of nutmeg.

grapevine n. rumour-mill, jungle telegraph, grapevine telegraph; rumour, gossip: According to the grapevine, you two are going to be married.

graphic adj. 1 vivid, distinct, well-defined, detailed, explicit, particular, clear, lucid, plain, manifest, crystal clear, unmistakable or unmistakeable, unambiguous, accurate, precise, well-drawn, photographic, descriptive, telling, picturesque, pictorial, realistic, lifelike, true to life, Colloq gory: He described his injuries in graphic detail. 2 written, drawn, diagrammatic, delineated, visible: The magazine won a prize for graphic design.

grapple v. 1 grasp, grab, grip, seize, clasp, catch, wrestle; hold, clutch, snatch: They grappled each other at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls. 2 grapple with. come to grips with, cope with, contend with, deal with, struggle with, tackle, face, take on: The government is grappling with the problem of unemployment.

grasp v. 1 grip, grab, seize, clasp, clutch, snatch, hold, take or lay or catch hold of, Colloq nab: I grasped the rope and was pulled to safety. 2 understand, comprehend, appreciate, catch (on), get, get the drift or point of, follow, see, realize, apprehend, learn, Colloq make head(s) or tail(s) of, Slang dig: I am trying to grasp the full import of what you are saying.

--n. 3 hold, grip, clutches, clasp, embrace, lock: He loosened his grasp on my throat and I could breathe again. 4 possession, control, power, mastery, sovereignty, suzerainty, hold: By

then, even the outer islands had fallen within his grasp. 5 understanding, comprehension, apprehension, awareness, perception, sense: He has a poor grasp of the basics of the subject.

grasping adj. greedy, avaricious, acquisitive, rapacious, mean, miserly, stingy, penurious, parsimonious, niggardly, tight, tight-fisted, penny-pinching, close-fisted, mercenary: If the company weren't so grasping, they'd have less difficulty hiring staff.

grass v. 1 inform, betray, give away, Slang peach, squeal, snitch, squeak, tattle, rat on, sell out, Brit blow the gaff, nark: He received a shorter sentence for grassing on his accomplices.

--n. 2 traitor, informer, Slang stool-pigeon, stoolie, squealer, snitch, squeaker, rat, Brit nark: A grass is treated roughly by fellow inmates.

grate v. 1 shred, rasp, scrape, rub, triturate: Peel six raw potatoes and grate them fine. 2 scrape, rasp, rub, grind, scratch, screech, stridulate: The cricket grates its legs

against its wing covers to produce the 'singing' sound. 3 Often, grate on or upon. annoy, vex, irk, irritate, pester, set one's teeth on edge, jar, fret, chafe, rub (someone) (up) the wrong way, go against the grain, Colloq get on one's nerves: Her voice just grates on me.

grateful adj. thankful, appreciative: I am grateful for any help I can get.

gratification

n. satisfaction, fulfilment, enjoyment, pleasure, delight, compensation, recompense, reward, return, requital: She does it only for the gratification she gets from making the children happier.

dissonant, unharmonious, offensive, irritating, irksome, annoying, vexatious, galling: I find the noise of chalk

squeaking on the blackboard very grating. 2 grinding, gritty, squeaky, jangling, screeching, creaking, shrill, piercing, squawking, croaking, rasping: The grating noise you hear is my fridge motor.

--n. 3 grate, grid, reticle or reticule, grille, lattice,

trellis, screen, network, reticulation: When a beam of light is directed through the fine grating, odd patterns are formed.

gratitude n. thankfulness, appreciation, gratefulness; thanks, return, compensation, thanksgiving: Here is a box of chocolates in gratitude for looking after my cat.

gratuitous

adj. 1 gratis, free, complimentary, spontaneous: The earth is a machine which has, till now, yielded gratuitous service. 2 unasked for, unrequested, unsought for, wanton, unprovoked,

unsolicited, unlooked-for, uncalled-for, unwelcome, unjustified, unwarranted, baseless, groundless, needless, unfounded, ungrounded, unjustifiable, irrational: He seems to derive some twisted pleasure from spreading gratuitous lies about me.

grave° n. crypt, sepulchre, tomb, vault, mausoleum, last or final resting-place, eternal rest: She began to sob as the coffin was slowly lowered into the grave.

graveý adj. 1 serious, sombre, solemn, earnest, unsmiling, staid, sedate, sober, dour, gloomy, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, Brit po-faced: The doctor, looking very grave, said that he had done all he could. 2 serious, critical, vital, dangerous,

matter of life and death, crucial, urgent, weighty, important, pressing, pivotal, perilous: Fenwick is in intensive care in a grave condition.

graveyard n. burial-ground, churchyard, cemetery, God's acre, necropolis, potter's field, W US Boot Hill, Rare Golgotha, Slang bone-yard: Uncle Valentine is buried in the graveyard on the hill.

gravity n. 1 gravitation; attraction: After middle age, the body obeys the laws of gravity but not of mutual attraction. 2 seriousness, acuteness, immediacy, importance, significance, weight, magnitude, severity, urgency, exigency, momentousness, weightiness: When I saw mother's expression I realized the

gravity of the situation. 3 solemnity, dignity, sombreness, staidness, sedateness, sobriety, gravitas, soberness, reserve; gloominess, grimness: The ceremony was conducted with suitable gravity.

greasy adj. 1 oily, sebaceous, fatty, fat, buttery, lardy, soapy, oleaginous, pinguid, butyraceous, saponaceous, waxy: Before curing, the hide is greasy with natural oils. 2 unctuous, oily, slippery, slithery, smooth, glib, fawning, slick, toadying, sycophantic, Slang Brit smarmy: Edna is so greasy, always trying to manoeuvre you into doing something for her.

great adj. 1 big, large, huge, immense, enormous, gigantic, giant, grand, extensive, prodigious, colossal, massive, vast,

tremendous; spacious, capacious, mammoth, gargantuan, monstrous, titanic, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian: Europe was covered by a

great forest. A great castle loomed before me. 2 large, huge, immense, enormous, gigantic, prodigious, vast, tremendous, abundant, countless: Plague killed a great number of people. 3 extreme, considerable, marked, pronounced, inordinate, extraordinary, significant; excess, excessive: I have something of great importance to tell you. Your news created great confusion. 4 critical, important, crucial, momentous, significant, serious, weighty, consequential: Those were great days for the history of England. 5 important, prominent, major, eminent, celebrated, distinguished, famous, famed, renowned, notable, noteworthy, illustrious, outstanding, well-known, weighty, influential, Rare eximious: What of the great universities, like Oxford and Cambridge? Our mayor thinks of himself as a great man. 6 talented, gifted, excellent, outstanding, exceptional, major, superlative, superior, leading, best, incomparable, matchless, peerless, skilful, artistic, brilliant, first-rate, remarkable, top, accomplished: Flaubert was one of the greatest writers of his age. Tamara is a good dancer, but not a great dancer. 7 lofty, elevated, exalted,

noble, high-minded, grand: Great thoughts come from great minds. 8 talented, skilled, skilful, adroit, clever, adept, able, proficient, expert: Daphne is really great at playing bridge. 9 keen, zealous, eager, active, enthusiastic, devoted, ardent, passionate: Frank is a great stamp collector. 10 close, devoted, dedicated, fast, faithful, true, loyal,

intimate, loving: Graham and Pembroke quickly became great friends. 11 terrible, bad, awful, unforgivable, horrendous,

heinous, grievous, horrific, horrible, terrific, huge, colossal, enormous, gigantic, significant, cardinal, egregious, basic, profound, flagrant, glaring, arrant, consummate, out-and-out: Inviting her at the same time as her ex-husband was a great mistake. 12 spectacular, marvellous, outstanding, excellent, superb, grand, wonderful, fine Colloq fantastic, terrific, stupendous, marvy, smashing, fantabulous, Old-fashioned Brit tickety-boo: He says that we missed a truly great show.

greed n. 1 greediness, avarice, avariciousness, covetousness, acquisitiveness, cupidity, avidity, craving, yearning: Greed accounts for most of man's dishonesty. 2 meanness, stinginess, miserliness, selfishness, niggardliness, penuriousness, parsimony, close-fistedness, penny-pinching, tight-fistedness: From a life of greed he had accumulated enormous wealth. 3 gluttony, voraciousness, edacity, esurience, voracity,

overeating, gormandizing, ravenousness, insatiableness: Obesity owes more to greed than to glandular disorder.

greedy adj. 1 ravenous, voracious, gluttonous, piggish, hoggish, swinish, cormorant, edacious, esurient, insatiable, unquenchable: I'd love another slice, but I mustn't be greedy. 2 avaricious, acquisitive, covetous, grasping, craving; materialistic, money-hungry: If some people were less greedy, there would be plenty for everyone. 3 stingy, miserly, mean, selfish, niggardly, parsimonious, penurious, penny-pinching, mercenary, close-fisted, tight-fisted, close, Colloq near,

tight, Brit mingy: He's so greedy that he asks beggars for receipts.

green adj. 1 verdant, grassy, fresh, leafy; rural, country-like: Plans call for a green belt to be created around every major city. 2 immature, unripe, unripened; na‹ve, callow, untested, untrained, unversed, inexperienced, new, raw, unseasoned, unsophisticated, gullible, amateur, unskilled, unskilful, amateurish, non-professional, inexpert, Colloq wet behind the ears: This banana is still too green to eat. Isn't Piers a bit green to be given so much responsibility? 3 environmental, conservationist: The green activists appear to be gaining influence in governmental circles.

--n. 4 lawn, sward, common, grassland: Let us meet on the village green at noon. 5 environmentalist, conservationist,

preservationist: The greens are opposed to draining the marshes.

greenhorn n. newcomer, beginner, novice, tiro or tyro, neophyte, novice, initiate, learner, tenderfoot, Colloq rookie: They send all the greenhorns off to fetch a bucket of steam and a can of striped paint.

greet v. 1 welcome, receive, usher in, meet: We were greeted warmly by the family. 2 hail, accost, address, salute: People greeted

him in the street with a wave and a smile.

greeting n. 1 salutation, hail, hello, welcome, reception: She had a smile and a greeting for every passer-by. 2 greetings card,

card, message, note: The Queen sent me a greeting on my 100th birthday. 3 greetings. regards, respects, best or good wishes, devoirs, compliments: I sent you greetings from Barbados, where I took my holiday.

rub the grime from the old oil lamp.

grind v. 1 pound, powder, pulverize, abrade, crush, granulate, mill, grate, rasp, crumble, kibble, mash, triturate, bray, comminute: The rock was soon ground to a fine powder. 2 sharpen, whet; file, smooth, polish: He is grinding the edge to be razor

sharp. 3 gnash, grit, grate: He grinds his teeth when he's angry. 4 Also, grind away. labour, toil, slave (away); study, lucubrate, burn the midnight oil, Colloq cram, Brit swot: George has been grinding away at the same job all his life.

Languages came easily, but he had to grind away at the sciences. 5 grind down. wear down or away, crush, oppress, subdue, suppress, tyrannize, persecute, maltreat, ill-treat, harry,

harass, hound, hector, plague, badger: Dictators first grind down all opposition, then destroy it. 6 grind out. produce, generate, crank out, churn out, turn out: For 20 years he has been grinding out the daily gossip column.

--n. 3 moan, sigh, murmur, wail, whimper, whine: I thought I heard a groan coming from the attic. 4 complaint, grumble, grousing, muttering, Colloq gripe, griping, beef, yammering, Slang bitching: His announcement that the whole class would be punished was met by groans.

hostler, equerry: The groom unsaddled the horses and began to curry them. 2 bridegroom: Let's drink to the bride and groom!

--v. 3 spruce up, dress, tidy or neaten up, smarten up, titivate or tittivate, preen, primp, refresh: Every time she passes a mirror Vivian stops to groom herself. 4 fit, train, prepare, coach, tutor, brief, drill, prime, (get or make) ready, adapt, shape: McCusker is being groomed for a directorship.

groove n. slot, cut, channel, furrow, gouge, trough; flute, scratch,