Word.ws English Dictionary

goes against the grain

goes against the grain is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go against the grain.

Meaning of go against the grain

Verb

go against the grain (third-person singular simple present goes against the grain, present participle going against the grain, simple past went against the grain, past participle gone against the grain)

  1. (idiomatic) To defy convention or norms; to do something in a manner that is unusual or out of the ordinary.
    • His method certainly goes against the grain, but it is unquestionably effective.
    Synonyms:
    run counter

Questions about goes against the grain

What is goes against the grain the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Goes against the grain is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go against the grain.

Words near goes against the grain in the dictionary

  1. goes about one's day
  2. goes about to
  3. goes abroad
  4. goes after
  5. goes against
  6. goes against the grain
  7. goes ahead
  8. goes ahead with
  9. goes all around the houses
  10. goes all around the Wrekin
  11. goes all out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goes against the grain (page history and authors); go against the grain (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.

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Cite this entry: “goes against the grain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/goes_against_the_grain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.