different between kneel vs grovel

English

Etymology

From Middle English knelen, knewlen, from Old English cn?owlian (“to kneel”), equivalent to knee +? -le. Cognate with Dutch knielen (“to kneel”), Low German knelen (“to kneel”), dialectal German knielen, kneulen, knülen (“to kneel”), Danish knæle (“to kneel”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?l, IPA^(key): /ni?l/
• Rhymes: -i?l
• Homophones: Neal, Neil, Niel

Verb

kneel (third-person singular simple present kneels, present participle kneeling, simple past and past participle knelt or kneeled)

1. (intransitive) To rest on one's bent knees, sometimes only one; to move to such a position.

   • When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped?; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, and her pretty little Alsatian maid beside her, laying a log across the andirons.

2. (transitive) To cause to kneel.

   She knelt the doll to fit it into the box.
3. (reflexive, archaic) To rest on (one's) knees

   He knelt him down to pray.

Hyponyms

• kneel down, genuflect

Derived terms

• kneeler

Translations

References

• kneel in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• kneel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• kneel at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• K?len

English

Etymology

From Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) ( > Old Norse grúfa (“to grovel”)).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?v?l

Verb

grovel (third-person singular simple present grovels, present participle (UK) grovelling or (US) groveling, simple past and past participle (UK) grovelled or (US) groveled)

1. (intransitive) To be prone on the ground.
2. (intransitive) To crawl.
3. (intransitive) To abase oneself before another person.
4. (intransitive) To be slavishly nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
5. (intransitive) To take pleasure in mundane activities. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

Anagrams

• Glover, Vogler, glover