2 ADJ Someone who is grown-up is physically and mentally mature and no longer depends on their parents or another adult. □ I have grown-up children who're doing well.
3 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If you say that someone is grown-up , you mean that they behave in an adult way, often when they are in fact still a child. □ She's very grown-up.
4 ADJ Grown-up things seem suitable for or typical of adults. [INFORMAL ] □ Her songs tackle grown-up subjects. □ She talked in a grown-up manner.
growth ◆◆◇ /groʊ θ/ (growths )
1 N‑UNCOUNT The growth of something such as an industry, organization, or idea is its development in size, wealth, or importance. □ [+ of ] …the growth of nationalism. □ …Japan's enormous economic growth. □ …high growth rates.
2 N‑UNCOUNT [oft a N ] A growth in something is an increase in it. □ [+ in ] A steady growth in the popularity of two smaller parties may upset the polls. □ The area has seen a rapid population growth. □ [+ of ] The market has shown annual growth of 20 per cent for several years.
3 ADJ [ADJ n] A growth industry, area, or market is one which is increasing in size or activity. [BUSINESS ] □ Computers and electronics are growth industries and need skilled technicians. □ Real estate lending has become the biggest growth area for American banks.
4 N‑UNCOUNT Someone's growth is the development and progress of their character. □ …the child's emotional and intellectual growth.
5 N‑UNCOUNT Growth in a person, animal, or plant is the process of increasing in physical size and development. □ …hormones which control fertility and body growth. □ Cells divide and renew as part of the human growth process.
6 N‑VAR You can use growth to refer to plants which have recently developed or which developed at the same time. □ This helps to ripen new growth and makes it flower profusely.
7 N‑COUNT A growth is a lump that grows inside or on a person, animal, or plant, and that is caused by a disease. □ This type of surgery could even be used to extract cancerous growths.
grub /grʌ b/ (grubs , grubbing , grubbed )
1 N‑COUNT A grub is a young insect which has just come out of an egg and looks like a short fat worm.
2 N‑UNCOUNT Grub is food. [INFORMAL ] □ Get yourself some grub and come and sit down.
3 VERB If you grub around, you search for something. □ [V adv/prep] I simply cannot face grubbing through all this paper.
grub|by /grʌ bi/ (grubbier , grubbiest )
1 ADJ A grubby person or object is rather dirty. □ His white coat was grubby and stained. □ …kids with grubby faces.
2 ADJ If you call an activity or someone's behaviour grubby , you mean that it is not completely honest or respectable. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …the grubby business of politics.
grudge /grʌ dʒ/ (grudges ) N‑COUNT If you have or bear a grudge against someone, you have unfriendly feelings towards them because of something they did in the past. □ [+ against ] He appears to have a grudge against certain players. □ There is no doubt it was an accident and I bear no grudges.
gru dge match (grudge matches ) N‑COUNT You can call a contest between two people or groups a grudge match when they dislike each other. □ This is something of a grudge match against a long-term enemy.
grudg|ing /grʌ dʒ I ŋ/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] A grudging feeling or action is felt or done very unwillingly. □ He even earned his opponents' grudging respect. □ There seems to be a grudging acceptance of the situation. ● grudg|ing|ly ADV [ADV with v] □ The film studio grudgingly agreed to allow him to continue working.
gru|el /gruː əl/ N‑UNCOUNT Gruel is a food made by boiling oats with water or milk.
gru|el|ling /gruː əl I ŋ/ in AM, use grueling ADJ A gruelling activity is extremely difficult and tiring to do. □ He had complained of exhaustion after his gruelling schedule over the past week. □ This flight was more gruelling than I had expected.
grue|some /gruː səm/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Something that is gruesome is extremely unpleasant and shocking. □ There has been a series of gruesome murders in the capital. ● grue|some|ly ADV [ADV adj, ADV with v] □ He has spent periods in prison, where he was gruesomely tortured. □ …a gruesomely compelling series of interviews.
gruff /grʌ f/
1 ADJ A gruff voice sounds low and rough. □ He picked up the phone expecting to hear the chairman's gruff voice. ● gruff|ly ADV □ 'Well, never mind now,' he said gruffly.
2 ADJ If you describe someone as gruff , you mean that they seem rather unfriendly or bad-tempered. □ His gruff exterior concealed one of the kindest hearts.
grum|ble /grʌ mb ə l/ (grumbles , grumbling , grumbled )
1 VERB If someone grumbles , they complain about something in a bad-tempered way. □ [V + about ] I shouldn't grumble about Mum–she's lovely really. □ [V that] Taft grumbled that the law so favored the criminal that trials seemed like a game of chance. □ [V with quote] 'This is inconvenient,' he grumbled. □ [V ] It's simply not in her nature to grumble. [Also V + at ] ● N‑COUNT Grumble is also a noun. □ My grumble is with the structure and organisation of the material. ● grum|bling (grumblings ) N‑VAR □ There have been grumblings about the party leader.