ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsGgrovel
ISEE/SSAThard
grovel
Meaning: to behave with excessive submission or humility
grovel in a sentence
How grovel is used in real sentences:
The dismissed adviser refused to grovel for the governor's forgiveness.
The defeated courtier began to grovel, praising the king and begging for mercy.
“Rather than grovel before the famous critic, the younger researcher calmly projected enlarged images and identified three matching excavation marks.”
— from the passage The Bone That Would Not Settle
Synonyms for grovel
Other words for grovel — cringe, kowtow and cower — carry the same meaning.
- cringe
- kowtow
- cower
Antonyms of grovel
Words that mean the opposite of grovel:
- defy
- resist
- assert
Where it comes from
From Middle English grovelen, meaning 'to lie face down.'
Memory hook
GROVEL begins like GROUND: those who grovel lower themselves toward the ground.