Word.ws English Dictionary

grunting

/ˈɡɹʌntɪŋ/

grunting is the present participle and gerund of grunt.

Meaning of grunt

Verb

grunt (third-person singular simple present grunts, present participle grunting, simple past and past participle grunted)

  1. (intransitive) To make a grunt or grunts.
    • to grunt and sweat under a weary lifec. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. (intransitive) To make a grunt or grunts.
  3. (UK, intransitive, slang) To break wind; to fart.
    • Who just grunted?

See all 10 meanings of grunt

Noun

grunting (plural gruntings)

  1. A sound of grunts.
    • the gruntings of contented pigs

Adjective

grunting (not comparable)

  1. Producing grunts.
    • Tired with the heat and my walk, I threw myself down on the grass in the shadow of the house, where I lay half-asleep enjoying a quiet rest, when I was startled by an unpleasant clamour, the jarring voice of a woman, who was trying by alternately scolding and using pet names to pacify a litter of...1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 278

Forms of grunting

pluralgruntings

Origin of grunting

From Middle English gruntynge (“grunting”); equivalent to grunt + -ing.

Words formed from grunting

Phrases with grunting

Words that rhyme with grunting

Questions about grunting

What does grunting mean?
Grunting means a sound of grunts.
What is grunting the present participle and gerund of?
Grunting is the present participle and gerund of grunt.
What part of speech is grunting?
Grunting can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce grunting?
Grunting is pronounced /ˈɡɹʌntɪŋ/.
What is the plural of grunting?
The plural of grunting is gruntings.

Words near grunting in the dictionary

  1. grunthi
  2. grunthis
  3. gruntier
  4. gruntiest
  5. gruntiness
  6. grunting
  7. grunting ox
  8. grunting oxen
  9. gruntingly
  10. gruntings
  11. gruntle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grunting (page history and authors); grunt (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-grunting.wav.

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