Groove
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A long, narrow channel or depression; e.g., such a slot cut into a hard material to provide a location for an engineering component, a tire groove, or a geological channel or depression.
- 2 a settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape wordnet
- 3 A fixed routine.
"Through these distresses, the Odd Girl was cheerful and exemplary. But within four hours after dark we had got into a supernatural groove, and the Odd Girl had seen “Eyes,” and was in hysterics."
- 4 (anatomy) any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part wordnet
- 5 The middle of the strike zone in baseball where a pitch is most easily hit.
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record) wordnet
- 7 A pronounced, enjoyable rhythm.
"Now, what you hear is not a test, I'm rapping to the beat / And me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet"
- 8 A good feeling (often as in the groove). dated, informal
"You can't hide forever, just decide to make it better / Turn it into something good / Remember, you can choose not to lose / Find your groove and be a winner"
- 9 A shaft or excavation.
- 10 The optimal route around the track, or any of several such routes.
- 1 To cut a groove or channel in; to form into channels or grooves; to furrow. transitive
"The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run."
- 2 hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove wordnet
- 3 To perform, dance to, or enjoy rhythmic music. intransitive
"I was just starting to groove to the band when we had to leave."
- 4 make a groove in, or provide with a groove wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The articles of incorporation have finally been completed for our Digital Groove Club."
Etymology
From Middle English grov, grove, groof, grofe (“cave; pit; mining shaft”), probably from Old Norse gróf (“pit”) or from Middle Dutch groeve (“furrow, ditch”), both from Proto-West Germanic *grōbu, from Proto-Germanic *grōbō (“groove, furrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scrape, bury”). Cognate with Cimbrian gruuba (“gorge, ravine”), Dutch groef, groeve (“groove; pit, grave”), German Grube (“ditch, pit”), Luxembourgish Grouf (“pit, mine”), Mòcheno gruab (“mine”), Icelandic gróf (“pit, hollow”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐍉𐌱𐌰 (grōba, “foxhole”), Serbo-Croatian grèbati (“scratch, dig”). Related to Old English grafan (“to dig”). More at grave.
Related phrases
More for "groove"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.