greet

/ɡɹiːt/

greet verb: to welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing.

Verb (1)

greet (third-person singular simple present greets, present participle greeting, simple past and past participle greeted)

(transitive) To welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing.
- My lord, the mayor of London comes to greet you.c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Warwick observed, as they passed through the respectable quarter, that few people who met the girl greeted her, and that some others whom she passed at gates or doorways gave her no sign of recognition; from which he inferred that she was possibly a visitor in the town and not well acquainted.1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC
Synonyms:

hail
(transitive) To arrive at or reach, or meet.
- In vain the Spring my Senſes greets / In all her Colours, all her Svveets; / To me the Roſe / No longer glovvs, / Every Plant / Has loſt its Scent: […]1707, [Joseph Addison], Rosamond. An Opera. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 9
- Way deep in left field, where the carpet of green sloped upward to a terrace and greeted the thick line of trees, he reached out his glove.2009, Loren Long, Phil Bildner, Magic in the Outfield, page 47
(transitive) To accost; to address.
- Fair on his feet the polish'd sandals shine,
  And thus he greets the master of the swine:1725–1726, Homer, “(please specify the book or chapter of the Odyssey)”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC
- I can be active as long as I stay in the closet. If I go forth as who I am, I will be greeted with closed doors.1986, Stephan Lee Dais, “Don't Turn Your Back On Me”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 61
(archaic, intransitive) To meet and give salutations.
- There greet in silence, as the dead are wont, And sleep in peace.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
(figuratively, transitive) To be perceived by (someone).
- A brilliant dawn greeted her eyes as she looked out of the window.
- Muggy heat—temperature in the 90s and high humidity—greeted early arrivals for the 72-hole, three-day test, rated the hardest and most important in the sport.1964 June 16, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22

Adjective

greet (comparative more greet, superlative most greet)

(obsolete outside Scotland) Great.

Verb (2)

greet (third-person singular simple present greets, present participle greeting, simple past and past participle greeted or grat or grutten)

(Northern England, Scotland) To weep; to cry.
- And damn't! if he didn't take down her bit things and scone her so sore she grat like a bairn [...].1933, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Cloud Howe (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 312
- My maw went potty and started greeting.2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 2
Synonyms:

beweep, burst into tears, cry, cry one's eyes out, shed a tear, shed tears, squirt some, wail, weep

Noun

greet (uncountable)

(obsolete) Mourning, weeping, lamentation.

Proper noun capitalized: Greet

Greet (countable and uncountable, plural Greets)

A surname.
A village in Winchcombe parish, Tewkesbury borough, Gloucestershire, England (OS grid ref SP0229).
A hamlet in Swale borough, Kent, England (OS grid ref TQ9255)
A suburb in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SP1084).
A minor river in Nottinghamshire, England, which joins the River Trent at Fiskerton (Notts.).

greet meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

greet in Hindi

to address with salutations or expressions of kind wishes: अभिवादन करना abhivādan karnā, स्वागत करना svāgat karnā, नमस्कार करना namaskār karnā

greet in Tamil

முகமன்கூறு, வாழ்த்து, வரவேற்றல், வணக்கம் செலுத்து

greet in Urdu

to address with salutations or expressions of kind wishes: سلام کرنا salām karnā, آداب کرنا ādāb karnā

More languagesFewer languages

greet in Bengali: অভিবাদন করা obhibadon kora, অভিবাদন জানান obhibadon janano
greet in Telugu: ఆహ్వానించు āhvāniñcu
greet in Malayalam: വണങ്ങുക vaṇaṅṅuka, തൊഴുക toḻuka
greet in Kannada: ಸ್ವಾಗತಿಸು, ಅಭಿವಂದಿಸು, ಕುಶಲಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಮಾಡು, ಎದುರುಗೊಳ್ಳು
greet in Gujarati: અભિવાદન કરવા માટે, નમસ્કાર કરવા માટે
greet in Odia: ଅଭିବାଦନ ଜଣାଇବା ପାଇଁ, ଅଭିବାଦନ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
greet in Nepali: अभिवादन गर्नाका निम्ति
greet in Tagalog: bati, magsaludo, saludo
greet in Arabic: حَيَّا ḥayyā
greet in Persian: سلام دادن salâm dâdan
greet in Thai: ทัก ták, ทักทาย ták-taai
greet in Vietnamese: chào, chào mừng
greet in Myanmar: နှုတ်ဆက် hnuthcak

Examples of greet in a sentence

The first thing that greets you on entering the church is a notice asking you not to vex the goat, since it renders valuable service in keeping the churchyard tidy.1980, AA book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 164:
Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts.2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

All 40 example sentences with greet

Synonyms of greet

All synonyms of greet

Forms of greet

Verb
third-person singular present	greets
present participle	greeting
past participle	greeted
past	greeted
past participle	grat
past	grat
past participle	grutten
past	grutten
Adjective
comparative	more greet
superlative	most greet
Proper noun
plural	Greets

Past tense of greet: greeted

Origin of greet

From Middle English greten, from Old English grētan, from Proto-West Germanic *grōtijan, from Proto-Germanic *grōtijaną. Cognate with Dutch groeten, German grüßen, grüssen.

From Middle English greet, grete (“great”).

From a blend of two Old English verbs, grētan, grǣtan (itself from Proto-West Germanic *grātan); and of Old English grēotan (itself from *greutan), both meaning "to weep, lament". Possibly reinforced in Northern England and Scotland by Old Norse gráta, whence also Danish græde, Norwegian gråte, Swedish gråta, all meaning "to cry, to weep".

Words formed from greet

Phrases with greet

meet and greet

Words that rhyme with greet

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about greet

What does greet mean?: Greet means to welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing.
What is greet in Hindi?: Greet in Hindi is अभिवादन करना (abhivādan karnā), स्वागत करना (svāgat karnā), नमस्कार करना (namaskār karnā). See Greet meaning in Hindi.
How do you use greet in a sentence?: The first thing that greets you on entering the church is a notice asking you not to vex the goat, since it renders valuable service in keeping the churchyard tidy.
What part of speech is greet?: Greet can be a verb, an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce greet?: Greet is pronounced /ɡɹiːt/.
What is the past tense of greet?: The past tense of greet is greeted.

Words near greet in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: greet (page history and authors); Greet (page history and authors); greet (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); greet (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ఆహ్వానించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); തൊഴുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); greet (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); greet (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); greet (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); greet (Nepali, 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-greet.ogg.

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