"grind down" meaning in English

See grind down in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-grind down.ogg [Australia] Forms: grinds down [present, singular, third-person], grinding down [participle, present], ground down [participle, past], ground down [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|grind<,,ground> down}} grind down (third-person singular simple present grinds down, present participle grinding down, simple past and past participle ground down)
  1. (transitive) To make something hard smaller and smoother by gradually rubbing off tiny bits; to wear down by grinding action. Tags: transitive Related terms: noli illegitimi carborundum Translations (to wear down): hunga (Maori), pahunga (Maori), ста́чивать (stáčivatʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), сточи́ть (stočítʹ) [perfective] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-grind_down-en-verb-5EHGna3u Disambiguation of 'to wear down': 97 3
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To weaken someone's morale over a long period. Tags: idiomatic, transitive
    Sense id: en-grind_down-en-verb-p~1uP2m9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs with particle (down) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 39 61 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (down): 41 59

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for grind down meaning in English (3.2kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grinds down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grinding down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ground down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ground down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grind<,,ground> down"
      },
      "expansion": "grind down (third-person singular simple present grinds down, present participle grinding down, simple past and past participle ground down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The old dog's teeth had been ground down by constant use."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make something hard smaller and smoother by gradually rubbing off tiny bits; to wear down by grinding action."
      ],
      "id": "en-grind_down-en-verb-5EHGna3u",
      "links": [
        [
          "wear down",
          "wear down"
        ],
        [
          "grinding",
          "grinding"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To make something hard smaller and smoother by gradually rubbing off tiny bits; to wear down by grinding action."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "noli illegitimi carborundum"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "to wear down",
          "word": "hunga"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "to wear down",
          "word": "pahunga"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "stáčivatʹ",
          "sense": "to wear down",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "ста́чивать"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "stočítʹ",
          "sense": "to wear down",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "сточи́ть"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (down)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 15, Jonathan Jurejko, “Novak Djokovic wins fourth Wimbledon by beating Kevin Anderson”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Djokovic broke twice in each of the opening two sets, dismantling 6ft 8in Anderson's service game and grinding him down in the rallies.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, The Toasters, Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down",
          "text": "I'm living in a world where I don't really fit\nEvery day walking through the same old shit\nI'm gonna get my gun, gonna get prepared\nI'm not impressed and I'm not scared\nDon't let the bastards grind you down!\nDon't let them grind you down!\nDon't let the bastards grind you down!\nDon't let them grind you down!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To weaken someone's morale over a long period."
      ],
      "id": "en-grind_down-en-verb-p~1uP2m9",
      "links": [
        [
          "weaken",
          "weaken"
        ],
        [
          "morale",
          "morale"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To weaken someone's morale over a long period."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grind down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-grind_down.ogg/En-au-grind_down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-grind_down.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grind down"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (down)",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grinds down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grinding down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ground down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ground down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "grind<,,ground> down"
      },
      "expansion": "grind down (third-person singular simple present grinds down, present participle grinding down, simple past and past participle ground down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "noli illegitimi carborundum"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The old dog's teeth had been ground down by constant use."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make something hard smaller and smoother by gradually rubbing off tiny bits; to wear down by grinding action."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wear down",
          "wear down"
        ],
        [
          "grinding",
          "grinding"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To make something hard smaller and smoother by gradually rubbing off tiny bits; to wear down by grinding action."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 15, Jonathan Jurejko, “Novak Djokovic wins fourth Wimbledon by beating Kevin Anderson”, in BBC Sport",
          "text": "Djokovic broke twice in each of the opening two sets, dismantling 6ft 8in Anderson's service game and grinding him down in the rallies.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1997, The Toasters, Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down",
          "text": "I'm living in a world where I don't really fit\nEvery day walking through the same old shit\nI'm gonna get my gun, gonna get prepared\nI'm not impressed and I'm not scared\nDon't let the bastards grind you down!\nDon't let them grind you down!\nDon't let the bastards grind you down!\nDon't let them grind you down!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To weaken someone's morale over a long period."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "weaken",
          "weaken"
        ],
        [
          "morale",
          "morale"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, transitive) To weaken someone's morale over a long period."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grind down.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/88/En-au-grind_down.ogg/En-au-grind_down.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/En-au-grind_down.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "to wear down",
      "word": "hunga"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "to wear down",
      "word": "pahunga"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "stáčivatʹ",
      "sense": "to wear down",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "ста́чивать"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "stočítʹ",
      "sense": "to wear down",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "сточи́ть"
    }
  ],
  "word": "grind down"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.