"grandfather" meaning in English

See grandfather in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/ [UK], /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/ [US] Audio: en-us-grandfather.ogg [US], en-au-grandfather.ogg [Australia], en-uk-grandfather.ogg [UK] Forms: grandfather [singular], grandfathers [plural]
enPR: grănd′fäthər [US] Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A grandfather is the father of a person or animal's parent. Synonyms: grampa, gramps, granddad, grandad
    Sense id: simple-grandfather-en-noun-Yw5w3IwN

Verb

IPA: /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/ [UK], /ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/ [US] Audio: en-us-grandfather.ogg [US], en-au-grandfather.ogg [Australia], en-uk-grandfather.ogg [UK] Forms: grandfather [canonical], grandfathers [third-person, singular], grandfathered [past], grandfathered [past, participle], grandfathering [present, participle]
enPR: grănd′fäthər [US] Head templates: {{verb}} [POS TABLE]
  1. When someone is grandfathered, it can continue doing or having something when a new law doesn't allow it.
    Sense id: simple-grandfather-en-verb-E0BR3t3k Categories (other): Law
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grandfather",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "grand‧fa‧ther",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "My grandfather was very old when I was still a boy."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A grandfather is the father of a person or animal's parent."
      ],
      "id": "simple-grandfather-en-noun-Yw5w3IwN",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "grampa"
        },
        {
          "word": "gramps"
        },
        {
          "word": "granddad"
        },
        {
          "word": "grandad"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "grănd′fäthər",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grandfather"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grandfather",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathers",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathered",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathered",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathering",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "grand‧fa‧ther",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Law",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The new laws don't allow buildings that are over 50 feet tall, but the skyscrapers that already exist are grandfathered, so they can stay taller than 50 feet."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone is grandfathered, it can continue doing or having something when a new law doesn't allow it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-grandfather-en-verb-E0BR3t3k",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "law"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "grănd′fäthər",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grandfather"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grandfather",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "grand‧fa‧ther",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "My grandfather was very old when I was still a boy."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A grandfather is the father of a person or animal's parent."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "grampa"
        },
        {
          "word": "gramps"
        },
        {
          "word": "granddad"
        },
        {
          "word": "grandad"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "grănd′fäthər",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grandfather"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "grandfather",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathers",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathered",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathered",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "grandfathering",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "grand‧fa‧ther",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Law",
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The new laws don't allow buildings that are over 50 feet tall, but the skyscrapers that already exist are grandfathered, so they can stay taller than 50 feet."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone is grandfathered, it can continue doing or having something when a new law doesn't allow it."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "law"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑːðə(r)/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "grănd′fäthər",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡræn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-grandfather.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "grandfather"
}

Download raw JSONL data for grandfather meaning in English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-26 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (89e900c and ea19a0a). 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.