GROUNDS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does grounds mean? 

• GROUNDS (noun)
  The noun GROUNDS has 5 senses:

1. your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief

2. the enclosed land around a house or other building

3. a tract of land cleared for some special purposes (recreation or burial etc.)

4. a justification for something existing or happening

5. dregs consisting of solid particles (especially of coffee) that form a residue

  Familiarity information: GROUNDS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GROUNDS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Your basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

evidence; grounds

Context example:

the evidence that smoking causes lung cancer is very compelling

Hypernyms ("grounds" is a kind of...):

information (knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grounds"):

probable cause ((law) evidence sufficient to warrant an arrest or search and seizure)

cogent evidence; proof (any factual evidence that helps to establish the truth of something)

disproof; falsification; refutation (any evidence that helps to establish the falsity of something)

lead; track; trail (evidence pointing to a possible solution)

symptom ((medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease)

sign ((medicine) any objective evidence of the presence of a disorder or disease)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The enclosed land around a house or other building

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

curtilage; grounds; yard

Context example:

it was a small house with almost no yard

Hypernyms ("grounds" is a kind of...):

field (a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grounds"):

backyard (the grounds in back of a house)

dooryard (a yard outside the front or rear door of a house)

front yard (the yard in front of a house; between the house and the street)

garden (a yard or lawn adjoining a house)

playground (yard consisting of an outdoor area for children's play)

side yard (the grounds at either side of a house)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tract of land cleared for some special purposes (recreation or burial etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("grounds" is a kind of...):

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A justification for something existing or happening

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

cause; grounds; reason

Context example:

they had good reason to rejoice

Hypernyms ("grounds" is a kind of...):

justification (a statement in explanation of some action or belief)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Dregs consisting of solid particles (especially of coffee) that form a residue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

it is a Middle Eastern custom to read your future in your coffee grounds

Hypernyms ("grounds" is a kind of...):

dregs; settlings (sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grounds"):

coffee grounds (the dregs remaining after brewing coffee)

 Context examples 

When dressed, I sat a long time by the window looking out over the silent grounds and silvered fields and waiting for I knew not what.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If the original hunting grounds of the Greenland Norse, around Disko Bay, were overexploited, they may have journeyed as far north as Smith Sound to find sufficient herds of walrus, said Barrett.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

The offshore reefs provide habitat and feeding grounds for large numbers of fish, including top predators such as sharks and groupers.

(Microbes reflect the health of coral reefs, National Science Foundation)

Specific grounds for annullment vary within the presiding jurisdiction, whether geographic or religious.

(Annulled, NCI Thesaurus)

A class of professional or vocational positions of employment that involve building and grounds clearing or maintenance.

(Building and Grounds Clearing and Maintenance Occupations, NCI Thesaurus)

A neoplasm which, on morphologic grounds, can not be classified with certainty as benign or malignant.

(Neoplasm, Uncertain Whether Benign or Malignant, NCI Thesaurus)

She was all impatience to see the house, and had scarcely any curiosity about the grounds.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Yes; it is in two points offensive to me; I have two strong grounds of objection to it.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Distinction between benign and malignant hemangiopericytoma may be difficult or even impossible on morphologic grounds alone.

(Malignant Hemangiopericytoma, NCI Thesaurus)

There's plenty of room for dozens inside, and splendid grounds outside.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)