grammar

Syllables: gram·marUK/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)//ˈɡɹæm.ɚ/

grammar noun: a system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. Also the ellipsis of grammar school.

Noun

grammar (countable and uncountable, plural grammars)

A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
1. (uncountable) The study of such a system.
(uncountable) Actual or presumed prescriptive notions about the correct use of a language.
(countable) A book describing the grammar (noun sense 1 or noun sense 2) of a language.
(countable) A formal system specifying the syntax of a language.
- Because real lexicons are big and complex, from a software engineering perspective it is best to write simple grammars that have a simple, well-defined way, of pulling out the information they need from vast lexicons. That is, grammars should be thought of as separate entities which can access the...2006, Patrick Blackburn · Johan Bos · Kristina Striegnitz, Learn Prolog Now!, §8.2
(countable) A formal system defining a formal language.
(countable, figuratively) The basic rules or principles of a field of knowledge or a particular skill.
- We must learn a new grammar of power in a world that is made up more of the common good – or the common bad – than of self-interest or national interest.2011, Javier Solana; Daniel Innerarity, Project Syndicate, The New Grammar of Power
(UK, archaic, countable) A book describing these rules or principles; a textbook.
- a grammar of geography
- To turn this sort of mixture of a gossip and a gospel into anything like a grammar of Distributism has been quite impossible.1926, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “VI: A Summary”, in The Outline of Sanity, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., →OCLC
(countable) A set of component patterns, along with the rules for connecting them, which can be combined to form more complex patterns such as large still lifes, oscillators, and spaceships.
- Hickerson has a computer program which found a spaceship with speed c/3. In fact a whole grammar of them.1991 April 4, Bill Gosper, “LIFELINE:in search of the newsletter”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
- Within a few hours of finding the first period 2 ship, Dean had discovered a grammar for constructing an infinite number of different short, wide, period 2 spaceships. A grammar is an "alphabet" of "components", along with rules for the possible sequences of connections between components....1992 August 27, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 2a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)

Verb

grammar (third-person singular simple present grammars, present participle grammaring, simple past and past participle grammared)

(intransitive, obsolete) To discourse according to the rules of grammar; to use grammar.
- She is in her Moods, and her Tenses: / I'll Grammar with you, / And make a trial how I can decline youc. 1619–1623, John Ford, “The Lawes of Candy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number...

Also used as

grammar is also the ellipsis of grammar school.

grammar meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

grammar in Hindi

rules for speaking and writing a language: व्याकरण vyākraṇ, ब्याकरण byākraṇ

grammar in Tamil

rules for speaking and writing a language: இலக்கணம் ilakkaṇam

grammar in Marathi

rules for speaking and writing a language: व्याकरण vyākraṇ

grammar in Urdu

rules for speaking and writing a language: قَواعِد qavā'id, قَواعِدِ زَبان qavā'id-i zabān

More languagesFewer languages

grammar in Bengali: ব্যাকরণ bêkron
grammar in Telugu: నామవాచకం nāmavācakaṁ
grammar in Malayalam: വ്യാകരണം vyākaraṇaṁ
grammar in Kannada: ವ್ಯಾಕರಣ vyākaraṇa
grammar in Punjabi: ਵਿਆਕਰਨ viākaran
grammar in Gujarati: વ્યાકરણ vyākraṇ
grammar in Odia: ବ୍ଯ଼ାକରଣ, ବ୍ଯ଼ାକରଣଃ, ବ୍ଯ଼ାକରଣକୁ
grammar in Sanskrit: व्याकरण vyākaraṇa
grammar in Sinhala: ව්යාකරණ wyākaraṇa
grammar in Assamese: ব্যাকৰণ byakoron
grammar in Nepali: व्याकरण vyākaraṇ
grammar in Pashto: ګرامر gerāmar, صرف و نحو sarf o nahwa, پښويه px̌oya, ژبدود žǝbdod
grammar in Tagalog: balarila
grammar in Arabic: قَوَاعِد qawāʕid, نَحْو naḥw, عِلْم قَوَاعِد ʕilm qawāʕid
grammar in Malay: tatabahasa, parmasastera
grammar in Indonesian: tata bahasa, gramatika, ilmu nahu, paramasastra
grammar in Thai: ไวยากรณ์ wai-yaa-gɔɔn
grammar in Vietnamese: ngữ pháp, văn phạm
grammar in Myanmar: သဒ္ဒါ sadda

Examples of grammar in a sentence

That is, grammars should be thought of as separate entities which can access the information contained in lexicons.2006, Patrick Blackburn · Johan Bos · Kristina Striegnitz, Learn Prolog Now!, §8.2
Within a few hours of finding the first period 2 ship, Dean had discovered a grammar for constructing an infinite number of different short, wide, period 2 spaceships.1992 August 27, David Bell, “Spaceships in Conway's Life (Part 2a)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

All 40 example sentences with grammar

Synonyms of grammar

glomery

Forms of grammar

Noun
plural	grammars
alternative form (archaic)	grammary
alternative form (obsolete)	grammer
Verb
third-person singular present	grammars
present participle	grammaring
past participle	grammared
past	grammared

Plural of grammar: grammars

Origin of grammar

From Middle English gramere, from Old French gramaire (“classical learning”), from unattested Vulgar Latin *grammāria, an alteration of Latin grammatica, from Ancient Greek γραμματική (grammatikḗ, “skilled in writing”), from γράμμα (grámma, “line of writing”), from γράφω (gráphō, “write”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- (“to carve, scratch”). Displaced native Old English stæfcræft; a doublet of glamour, glamoury, gramarye, and grimoire. Piecewise doublet of grammatic.

Phrases with grammar

Words that rhyme with grammar

8 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about grammar

What does grammar mean?: Grammar means a system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
What is grammar in Hindi?: Grammar in Hindi is व्याकरण (vyākraṇ), ब्याकरण (byākraṇ). See Grammar meaning in Hindi.
How do you use grammar in a sentence?: That is, grammars should be thought of as separate entities which can access the information contained in lexicons.
What part of speech is grammar?: Grammar can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce grammar?: Grammar is pronounced /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of grammar?: The plural of grammar is grammars.

Words near grammar in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: grammar (page history and authors); grammar (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-grammar.ogg.

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