grope
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To touch closely and sexually.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
grohpIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹoʊp
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.
verb
To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually.
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.
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.
noun
informal
The act of groping; and instance of groping
informal
An act of groping, especially sexually.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually.
Used this way, grope is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use grope
- “She groped for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom.”verb
- “He made some sexual advances at the woman in his office and groped her repeatedly.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.