Word.ws English Dictionary

gritted one's teeth

gritted one's teeth is the simple past and past participle of grit one's teeth.

Meaning of grit one's teeth

Verb

grit one's teeth (third-person singular simple present grits one's teeth, present participle gritting one's teeth, simple past and past participle gritted one's teeth or (nonstandard) grit one's teeth)

  1. To clench one's teeth together tightly because of pain, anger, frustration, or self-assurance.
    • [Shield Knight] LOOKED WITH DREAD THROUGH THE EYES OF THE ENCHANTRESS. SHE WAS TRAPPED AGAIN! SHIELD KNIGHT GRIT HER TEETH. SHOVEL KNIGHT WOULDN'T GIVE UP, AND NEITHER WOULD SHE.2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Shield Knight), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch, scene: ending
  2. (idiomatic) To face up to a difficult or disagreeable situation and deal with it.
    • There's a storm coming, so I grit my teeth and start rowing with all my might.

Questions about gritted one's teeth

What is gritted one's teeth the simple past and past participle of?
Gritted one's teeth is the simple past and past participle of grit one's teeth.

Words near gritted one's teeth in the dictionary

  1. Gritsch
  2. gritsome
  3. gritstone
  4. gritstones
  5. gritted
  6. gritted one's teeth
  7. gritten
  8. gritter
  9. gritters
  10. grittier
  11. grittiest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gritted one's teeth (page history and authors); grit one's teeth (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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