Word.ws English Dictionary

ax to grind

ax to grind noun: a proposition or point of view to advocate, especially motivated by self-interest.

ax to grind: a proposition or point of view to advocate, especially motivated by self-interest
Image: Horace Nicholls, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ax to grind (plural axes to grind)

  1. (US, idiomatic) A proposition or point of view to advocate, especially motivated by self-interest.
    • “See,” Koteks said, “if you can get them to drop their clause on patents. That, lady, is my ax to grind.”1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 4, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 61
    • The design has had a rather contentious journey through the various technical committees set up by the EEC to study the problem; individual member nations with particular axes to grind holding up the proceedings at regular intervals.1976 July 8, New Scientist, volume 71, number 1008, page 77

Noun (2)

ax to grind (plural axes to grind)

  1. (US, idiomatic) A grudge or grievance, with implications of confrontation.
    • If one is not just writing history but also trying to condemn and “demolish” one’s enemy, as Neumann is, you need a deeper level of introspection, and a high standard of proof. If not, it’s better to let “silence be a fence for wisdom.” (Pirkei Avot 3:13) It’s not possible to maintain the curiosity...2019 February 27, David Seidenberg, “A Tikkun for Tikkun Olam? How ‘To Heal the World?’ Corrupts Debate & Endangers Judaism”, in Jewish Journal

Forms of ax to grind

pluralaxes to grind
alternative formaxe to grind

Origin of ax to grind

A reference to someone sharpening an axe with the intent to kill someone.

Words formed from ax to grind

  • have an ax to grind

Questions about ax to grind

What does ax to grind mean?
Ax to grind means a proposition or point of view to advocate, especially motivated by self-interest.
What part of speech is ax to grind?
Ax to grind is a noun.
What is the plural of ax to grind?
The plural of ax to grind is axes to grind.

Words near ax to grind in the dictionary

  1. Awyong
  2. Awyoung
  3. ax
  4. ax head
  5. ax heads
  6. ax to grind
  7. Ax-Grothendieck theorem
  8. Ax-Kochen theorem
  9. axal
  10. axanthic
  11. axanthine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ax to grind (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-have an axe to grind.wav.

Cite this entry: “ax to grind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ax_to_grind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.