grass
/ɡrɑːs/ IELTSAcademic
noun
Grass is a plant with long, narrow green leaves that grows in lawns, fields, and gardens. It is also used to refer to land covered with this plant.
- The grass is wet after the rain.
- We sat on the grass in the park.
verb
To grass on someone means to inform the police or another authority about their secret or wrongdoing, especially in British English. It is informal and often sounds negative.
- He refused to grass on his friends.
- Someone grassed to the teacher.
Adinary Nuance
Grass is the everyday word for the green plant or the ground it covers. It is more general and natural than terms like "turf" or "sward," which sound more formal or literary. For illegal-crowd slang, "grass" is not the same as the plant meaning; in British English, it means to inform on someone.
In other languages
- Vietnamese
- cỏ
- Spanish
- hierba
- Chinese
- 草
- Japanese
- 草
- Korean
- 잔디
Etymology
Old English græs, from a Germanic root meaning a growing plant. The word has been in English since early medieval times.
Common phrases
cut the grassgrass rootsgrasslandto sit on the grass
Synonyms
Related words
Frequently asked questions
- Is "grass" a countable noun?
- Usually, no. You say "grass" as an uncountable noun, like "water" or "sand."
- What is the difference between "grass" and "lawn"?
- Grass is the plant. A lawn is an area of grass kept neat, usually near a house or building.
- Is "grass" formal or informal?
- The plant meaning is neutral and common. The verb meaning "to inform on someone" is informal and mostly British.
- Can I say "the grasses"?
- Usually, no. "Grass" is not used in the plural when you mean the plant material.