App logo

grovel

/ˈɡrɒvəl/verb

To lie or crawl flat on the ground, face downward.

Example sentence

  • The soldiers groveled in the mud to stay out of sight.

The dominant sense is figurative and contemptuous: to grovel is to beg or flatter without dignity. 'I'm not going to grovel' is the standard refusal to apologize abjectly.

Related words