grinding

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of grind.

   The workers were grinding the corn between two heavy stones.

   Grinding the spices by hand released a far stronger aroma.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. In a progressive tense it is the verb at work (the mill was grinding all night). As a gerund it names the activity, and from there it hardened into separate nouns and adjectives: Middle English gryndynge, grind plus -ing. The verb runs both ways. It is transitive when something is ground and intransitive when gears grind or a skateboarder grinds along a rail.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The action of crushing things together into small particles, or the sound produced by that action.

   The grinding of the millstones echoed across the courtyard.

   Hours of grinding reduced the grain to a fine, pale powder.

   Similarmilling, crushing

   Note

   The noun works both as a mass noun and as a count noun, and its two meanings divide along that line. The action reads naturally as a mass (hours of grinding), while the sound can be counted: a failing machine gives off creakings and grindings, a run of separate noises. The word goes back to Middle English gryndynge, which is simply grind plus -ing. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Grinding goes back to Middle English gryndynge and is analyzable as grind plus -ing. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   adjective

   Relentlessly taxing and burdensome, demanding so much that it exhausts.

   Decades of grinding labor in the mines broke his health.

   The grinding demands of the campaign wore down every volunteer.

   Similargrueling, punishing, exhausting, backbreaking, crushing

   Oppositeundemanding, easy

   Note

   It usually sits before nouns of hardship, as in grinding toil and grinding poverty. John Kyper, writing from Cuba in 1983, uses grinding poverty for the familiar misery he was surprised not to find there: no beggars, no one camping in doorways. The adjective suggests a weight that wears people down day after day. It is not used in comparatives.

4. 4
   adjective

   Relating to or producing the harsh, scraping sound of two hard surfaces rubbing against each other.

   The grinding screech of the brakes set everyone's teeth on edge.

   A low grinding rumble signaled that the machine was failing.

   Similargrating, rasping

   Note

   Its most familiar home is the phrase grinding halt. A meeting, a project or traffic comes to a grinding halt, stopping slowly and with friction rather than cleanly. The image behind it is the harsh scrape of hard surfaces rubbing together. It does not take more or most: something is grinding or it is not.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Repeatedly doing the same quest or in-game activity in order to build up points or wealth.

   Players complained that the grinding made the game feel like a chore.

   Hours of grinding earned her enough gold for the best gear.

   Similarfarming

   Note

   Gamers use it mostly as a complaint. Grinding is the tedious repetition a game demands before a rare drop, such as a 1% chance item, finally arrives. The verb travels with it: players grind for gold or grind for an item. It is close to the daily-grind meaning, but here the reward is points, wealth or gear inside the game.

6. 6
   nouncolloquialuncountable

   The act of carrying on with the tiring, monotonous routine of daily work.

   After two weeks off, the grinding of the nine-to-five felt heavier than ever.

   The grinding of commuting and deadlines slowly drained her enthusiasm.

   Similardrudgery, toil

   Note

   Office talk built from the phrase the daily grind: to be grinding is to be stuck in that routine. In casual speech it often stands alone, without an object, as in I'm tired of grinding. Keep it for conversation rather than reports or formal letters. Unlike the gaming sense, there is no score to show for the effort.

7. 7
   noununcountable

   A form of dance in which two people rub their bodies closely together in time with the music.

   The grinding on the crowded dance floor matched the heavy beat.

   Some clubs discourage grinding that gets too explicit.

   Note

   The word turns up in dance-floor rules almost as often as on the floor. Schools ban it at the junior prom as not age-appropriate, because the dance is read as sexually suggestive. Used uncounted, it names the style rather than any single dance: you say there was grinding, not a grinding. It belongs to clubs and school dances, not to the ballroom. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Schools ban grinding at dances including junior proms because they consider it sexually suggestive and inappropriate. mrgrenier.com
8. 8
   noununcountable

   The action of working a piece of material with an abrasive to change its size, shape, and surface finish.

   The grinding of the casting brought it to within a fraction of a millimeter.

   Surface grinding gave the plate a mirror-smooth finish.

   Note

   Machine shops use grinding for finishing work, when a part must be held to tolerances of a few microns. Unlike the crushing sense, nothing is reduced to powder here. A rotating abrasive wheel takes material off a workpiece until its size, shape and surface are right. Compounds name the setup, as in surface grinding for flat faces.

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