grounds
noun
Form of ground , plural of ground.
Simple meaning
The collective land areas that compose a larger area.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
growndzIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹaʊndz
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.
noun
The collective land areas that compose a larger area.
law
A justification for something existing or happening
law
Basis or justification for something.
The sediment at the bottom of a liquid, or from which a liquid has been filtered.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Basis or justification for something.
Used this way, grounds is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use grounds
- “It is a Middle Eastern custom to read your future in your coffee grounds.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The solid part of the earth's surface.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The dregs remaining after brewing coffee.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A special rule (as in baseball) dealing with situations that arise due to the nature of the playing grounds.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “grounds” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.