grateful
adjective
Simple meaning
Feeling thankful for something someone did.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
graytfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪtfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of a person or their actions, feelings, etc.: expressing gratitude or appreciation; appreciative, thankful.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a person or their actions, feelings, etc.: expressing gratitude or appreciation; appreciative, thankful.
Used this way, grateful is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Grateful and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use grateful
- “I am so grateful for all your help with moving today.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of a person or their actions or feelings
Antonyms
Sense: of a person or their actions or feelings
Say it better
Looking for a more precise alternative? “grateful” can mean several things.
Thanks so much, that really helped.I appreciate you taking the time to do this.Thank you for staying late to finish the slides.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.