What does "grass" mean?
Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.
Grass
/ɡɹɑːs/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.
- Grammar: grass is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: acid, aftergrass, alfilaria, antidepressant.
- Useful contrasts: bare ground, bare soil, bracken.
- Usage evidence: The cows were moving very slowly through the long green grass.
How to use "grass"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "grass" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "grass" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "grass" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "grass" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "grass" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "acid" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "grass", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain. countable, uncountable
"Thou turnest man to destruction: and sayest, Returne yee children of men. / For a thousand yeeres in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past: and as a watch in the night. / Thou carriest them away as with a flood, they are as a sleepe: in the morning they are like grasse which groweth vp. / In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth vp: in the euening it is cut downe, and withereth."
- 2 street names for marijuana wordnet
- 3 Any of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses. countable
- 4 bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle wordnet
- 5 A lawn. uncountable
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 a police informer who implicates many people wordnet
- 7 The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass". uncountable
- 8 narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay wordnet
- 9 Marijuana. slang, uncountable
"Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass"
- 10 An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities. British, countable, slang
"What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass."
- 11 Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference. uncountable
- 12 Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display. slang, uncountable
"The problem in radar detection is to have a signal to noise ratio that will allow the echo to be seen through the grass on the radar screen. The use of a long pulse allows a greater average signal strength to be returned in the target echoes."
- 13 The season of fresh grass; spring or summer. countable, uncountable
- 14 That which is transitory. countable, figuratively, obsolete
"The grasse withereth, the flowre fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it: surely the people is grasse."
- 15 Asparagus; "sparrowgrass". countable
"'Have ready a hundred of ſmall graſs boiled, then ſave tops enough to ſtick the rolls with, the reſt cut ſmall and put into the cream, fill the loaves with them.'"
- 16 The surface of a mine. countable
Verb
- 1 To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.). transitive
"The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed."
- 2 give away information about somebody wordnet
- 3 To act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities. intransitive, slang, transitive
""Grassed on me he did," I said morosely. (Note: Grass is English thief slang for inform.)^([sic])"
- 4 shoot down, of birds wordnet
- 5 To cover with grass or with turf. transitive
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 feed with grass wordnet
- 7 To feed with grass. transitive
- 8 spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach wordnet
- 9 To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc. transitive
- 10 cover with grass wordnet
- 11 To bring to the grass or ground; to land. transitive
"Let him hook and land a tigerfish of 20 lb., at the imminent risk of capsizing and joining the company of the engaging crocodiles, or, when he has grassed the fish, of having a finger bitten off by his iron teeth […]"
Proper Noun
- 1 A group of languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.
- 2 A surname.
- 3 A township in Spencer County, Indiana, United States, named after pioneer settler Daniel Grass.
Example
"The cows were moving very slowly through the long green grass."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "grass"?
Common synonyms include: acid, aftergrass, alfilaria, antidepressant, ataractic, bamboo.
How do you use "grass" in a sentence?
The cows were moving very slowly through the long green grass.
How do you pronounce "grass"?
Pronounced /ɡɹɑːs/.
Etymology
From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic *gras, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). Cognates Cognate with Scots gress (“grass”), North Frisian gaars, geers, Gērs, gjars, gjas, gäärs (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Cimbrian gras, grass (“grass”), German and Luxembourgish Gras (“grass, weed”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), Mòcheno and Vilamovian gros (“grass”), West Flemish ges (“grass”), Yiddish גראָז (groz, “grass”), Danish græs (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gras, gress (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐍃 (gras, “herb”); also Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green. The "informer" sense is probably a shortening of grasshopper (“police officer, informant”), rhyming slang for copper (“police officer”) or shopper (“informant”); the exact sequence of derivation is unclear.