grate

CEFRB2

/ˈɡɹeɪt/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A frame of metal bars covering an opening.

  2. 02

    verb

    To shred food into small pieces by rubbing it against a rough tool.

Examples

  • Dan entered the facility through a damaged metal grate.

  • Tom's wide-eyed optimism is beginning to grate on my nerves.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈɡɹæɪt/
  • /ˈɡɹɛjt/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning.

  2. A grapper, a metal ring on a lance behind the grip.

  3. A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot.

More examples

In context

  • I need to grate the cheese before the potato is cooked.

  • The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field.

  • to grate a window

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

To make the pasta dish, she needed to blank the block of cheese.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English grate, from a Medieval Latin crāta, from a Latin word for a hurdle; or Italian grata, from Latin cratis.