"touch grass" meaning in English

See touch grass in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-touch grass.wav Forms: touches grass [present, singular, third-person], touching grass [participle, present], touched grass [participle, past], touched grass [past], touch some grass [alternative]
Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,touched,touched>}} touch grass (third-person singular simple present touches grass, present participle touching grass, simple past and past participle touched grass)
  1. (Internet slang, derogatory, often dismissal) To spend time outside, off of the Internet. Used in the imperative to suggest that someone is out of touch with reality, and should gain some real-world perspective. Tags: Internet, derogatory Synonyms: go outside Coordinate_terms: get a life Translations (to spend time outside): 触摸草 (chù mō cǎo) (Chinese Mandarin), toucher de l'herbe (French), an die frische Luft gehen (German), toccare l’erba (Italian), dotykać trawy [imperfective] (Polish), dotknąć trawy [perfective] (Polish), прикасаться к траве (prikasatʹsja k trave) [imperfective] (Russian), прикоснуть к траве (prikosnutʹ k trave) [perfective] (Russian), tocar hierba (Spanish), nudda gräs (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-touch_grass-en-verb-en:get_back_in_touch_with_reality Categories (other): English dismissals, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 85 15 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 78 22 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 87 13 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 83 17 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 82 18 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 85 15 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 81 19 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 87 13 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of 'to spend time outside': 99 1
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see touch, grass. Related terms: out of touch, in touch, attention economy, doomscrolling, human fracking, ragebait, smartphone zombie, take a hike
    Sense id: en-touch_grass-en-verb-en:literal

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "touches grass",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "touching grass",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "touched grass",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "touched grass",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "touch some grass",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,touched,touched>"
      },
      "expansion": "touch grass (third-person singular simple present touches grass, present participle touching grass, simple past and past participle touched grass)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 2010s",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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          "_dis": "85 15",
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          "_dis": "78 22",
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          "_dis": "83 17",
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          "_dis": "82 18",
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          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
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      "coordinate_terms": [
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          "word": "get a life"
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      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              71,
              82
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          ],
          "text": "Maybe their idle and petty chatter wouldn't devastate you if you would touch grass a bit more often.",
          "type": "example"
        },
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              38,
              49
            ]
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          "ref": "2022 January 9, Baxter, “Send them back to school!!”, in or.politics (Usenet):",
          "text": "Lifeboat isn't real life. Go outside. Touch grass. Or seaweed; whatever's down there.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              35,
              46
            ]
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          "ref": "2022 April 24, plateshutoverlock, “The brain broth boilith over”, in alt.alt (Usenet):",
          "text": "in the words of a random anon - go touch grass. im done being patient with you and im done being nice to you. is this what you fucking wanted? to lie and slander and generally be a cunt until i snapped?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              153,
              164
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023 January 18, Annie Rauwerda, “Wikipedia's Redesign Is Barely Noticeable. That's the Point.”, in Slate, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2023:",
          "text": "To an outsider, the meticulous, sometimes combative arguments about, say, moving a button five pixels to the left seem pointless. I beg of thee, please, touch grass! But to many, Wikipedia is sort of a home on the internet. And people want to live somewhere nice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "glosses": [
        "To spend time outside, off of the Internet. Used in the imperative to suggest that someone is out of touch with reality, and should gain some real-world perspective."
      ],
      "id": "en-touch_grass-en-verb-en:get_back_in_touch_with_reality",
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "dismissal",
          "dismissal"
        ],
        [
          "imperative",
          "Appendix:Glossary#imperative"
        ],
        [
          "out of touch",
          "out of touch#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "often dismissal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, derogatory, often dismissal) To spend time outside, off of the Internet. Used in the imperative to suggest that someone is out of touch with reality, and should gain some real-world perspective."
      ],
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        "en:get back in touch with reality"
      ],
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        {
          "word": "go outside"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        "derogatory"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "cmn",
          "roman": "chù mō cǎo",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "触摸草"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "toucher de l'herbe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "an die frische Luft gehen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "toccare l’erba"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotykać trawy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "dotknąć trawy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "prikasatʹsja k trave",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "прикасаться к траве"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "prikosnutʹ k trave",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "прикоснуть к траве"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "tocar hierba"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "to spend time outside",
          "word": "nudda gräs"
        }
      ]
    },
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              67,
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              78,
              83
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          ],
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          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see touch, grass."
      ],
      "id": "en-touch_grass-en-verb-en:literal",
      "links": [
        [
          "touch",
          "touch#English"
        ],
        [
          "grass",
          "grass#English"
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      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "out of touch"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "in touch"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "attention economy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "doomscrolling"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "human fracking"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "ragebait"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "smartphone zombie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "take a hike"
        }
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:literal"
      ]
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  "word": "touch grass"
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    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "touches grass",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
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    {
      "form": "touching grass",
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    {
      "form": "touched grass",
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        "participle",
        "past"
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    {
      "form": "touched grass",
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        "past"
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      "form": "touch some grass",
      "tags": [
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      "name": "en-verb"
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      "word": "out of touch"
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      "word": "attention economy"
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          "word": "get a life"
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        {
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              153,
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          "text": "To an outsider, the meticulous, sometimes combative arguments about, say, moving a button five pixels to the left seem pointless. I beg of thee, please, touch grass! But to many, Wikipedia is sort of a home on the internet. And people want to live somewhere nice.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To spend time outside, off of the Internet. Used in the imperative to suggest that someone is out of touch with reality, and should gain some real-world perspective."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Internet",
          "Internet"
        ],
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "dismissal",
          "dismissal"
        ],
        [
          "imperative",
          "Appendix:Glossary#imperative"
        ],
        [
          "out of touch",
          "out of touch#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "often dismissal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Internet slang, derogatory, often dismissal) To spend time outside, off of the Internet. Used in the imperative to suggest that someone is out of touch with reality, and should gain some real-world perspective."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:get back in touch with reality"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "go outside"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Internet",
        "derogatory"
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          "text": "Q: Can't you read?! My sign says to stay off the lawn! A: I didn't touch your grass, pal.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see touch, grass."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "touch",
          "touch#English"
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          "grass",
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "chù mō cǎo",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "触摸草"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "toucher de l'herbe"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "an die frische Luft gehen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "toccare l’erba"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotykać trawy"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "dotknąć trawy"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "prikasatʹsja k trave",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "прикасаться к траве"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "prikosnutʹ k trave",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "прикоснуть к траве"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "tocar hierba"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "to spend time outside",
      "word": "nudda gräs"
    }
  ],
  "word": "touch grass"
}

Download raw JSONL data for touch grass meaning in English (5.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). 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.