Grate
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.
"The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field."
- 2 a frame of iron bars to hold a fire wordnet
- 3 A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.
- 4 a barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air wordnet
- 5 A grapper, a metal ring on a lance behind the grip. historical
"Lances (only shown at Stoke D'Abernon) were commonly made of ash, about 13 feet long. A ring of metal (grate or grapper) was fastened to the shaft and during a fight[…]"
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- 6 a harsh rasping sound made by scraping something wordnet
- 1 To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars. transitive
"to grate a window"
- 2 To shred (things, usually foodstuffs), by rubbing across a grater. transitive
"I need to grate the cheese before the potato is cooked."
- 3 scratch repeatedly wordnet
- 4 To make an unpleasant rasping sound, often as the result of rubbing against something. intransitive
"1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, Part 3 Chapter X, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling The gate suddenly grated. It was Lestiboudois; he came to fetch his spade, that he had forgotten. He recognised Justin climbing over the wall, and at last knew who was the culprit who stole his potatoes."
- 5 make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together wordnet
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- 6 To get on one's nerves; to irritate, annoy. broadly, intransitive
"She’s nice enough, but she can begin to grate if there is no-one else to talk to."
- 7 reduce to small shreds or pulverize by rubbing against a rough or sharp perforated surface wordnet
- 8 To annoy. broadly, transitive
"2015, Art Levy in Florida Trend, Roland Martin is a Florida 'Icon' one of the issues that's kind of grating me a little bit is weed control."
- 9 gnaw into; make resentful or angry wordnet
- 10 furnish with a grate wordnet
- 1 Serving to gratify; agreeable. obsolete
"Coho or Coffee[…]however ingrate or insapory it seems at first, it becomes grate and delicious enough by custom."
- 2 Obsolete spelling of great. alt-of, obsolete
"c. 1815, Mary Woody, A true account of Nayomy Wise He promisd her a grate reward"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Dan entered the facility through a damaged metal grate."
Etymology
From Middle English grate, from a Medieval Latin crāta, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.
From Middle English graten, from Old French grater (“to scrape”) ( > French gratter), from Frankish *krattōn, from Proto-Germanic *krattōną. Cognate with Old High German krazzon ( > German kratzen (“to scrawl”) > Danish kradse), Icelandic krassa (“to scrawl”) and Danish kratte.
From Latin grātus (“agreeable”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.