grope
/ɡɹəʊp/US/ɡɹoʊp/
grope verb: to feel with or use the hands; to handle.
Verb
grope (third-person singular simple present gropes, present participle groping, simple past and past participle groped)
- To feel with or use the hands; to handle.
- Synonyms:
- touch
- To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see.
- a. 1812. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, sermon
to grope about a little longer among the miseries and sensualities of a worldly life - In the hollow shades of the roof could be seen pale dangling arms of ivy which had crept through the joints of the tiles and were groping in vain for some support, their leaves being dwarfed and sickly for want of sunlight; [...]1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter IV, in The Woodlanders […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 56
- Synonyms:
- fumble
- a. 1812. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, sermon
- To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually.
- The parents found the couple kissing and groping.
- Synonyms:
- caress
- To intentionally and inappropriately touch or rub against another person, in such a manner as to make the contact appear accidental, for the purpose of one's sexual gratification.
- That old man groped that girl on the train!
- To examine; to test; to sound.
- Felix gropeth him, thinking to have a bribe.1557, Geneva Bible (Acts xxiv)
Noun
grope (plural gropes)
- An act of groping, especially sexually.
- The old man tried to get a quick grope of the young lady on the train.
- An iron fitting of a medieval cart wheel.
- Gropes appear to be pieces of iron binding together the inner joint of the fitting, and grope-nails to have been used for fastening these to the wood.1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 544
grope meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
grope in Tamil
- கையால் தடவு, தட்டித்தடவு, தடுமாறு, தட்டுத் தடுமாறி தேடு, அறி, குருட்டுத்தனமாகத் தடவு
grope in Urdu
- ہاتھ پھیرنا, ٹٹولنا, چھونا
grope in Telugu
- to search by feeling
- తడుము taḍumu
grope in Malayalam
- ഇരുട്ടിൽ തപ്പിത്തടവുക, പരതിനടക്കുക, തപ്പിയും തടഞ്ഞും തിരക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- grope in Kannada
- ಸಿದುಗು, ಪರಡು, ತಡವರಿಸು, ತಡಕಾಡು
Examples of grope in a sentence
- She groped in her coat pocket and pulled out Laura’s “Klingonian” address.
- There's a hand groping around on my thigh in the murk.
- I closed the door hurriedly on the babel and groped my way back to bed.
Synonyms of grope
Forms of grope
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | gropes |
| present participle | groping |
| past participle | groped |
| past | groped |
| Noun | |
| plural | gropes |
Origin of grope
From Middle English gropien, from Old English grāpian, related to grīpan (whence English gripe); compare also grip.
Words formed from grope
Words that rhyme with grope
Questions about grope
- What does grope mean?
- Grope means to feel with or use the hands; to handle.
- What is grope in Tamil?
- Grope in Tamil is கையால் தடவு, தட்டித்தடவு, தடுமாறு. See Grope meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is grope?
- Grope can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce grope?
- Grope is pronounced /ɡɹəʊp/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of grope?
- The past tense of grope is groped.
Words near grope in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: grope (page history and authors); grope (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grope (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grope (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); grope (Kannada Wiktionary) (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)-Vealhurl-grope.wav.
Cite this entry: “grope.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/grope. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.