Grounded

How to spell grounded

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce grounded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does grounded mean?

1. adjectiveEmotionally stable, sensible, and realistic in outlook.
2. adjectiveKept on the ground and not permitted to fly, said of an aircraft or pilot.
3. adjectiveConfined to the home as a punishment, typically a teenager.
4. adjectiveFirmly based on or established in a particular foundation or evidence.

Grounded in a sentence

• Despite her sudden fame, she stayed remarkably grounded and down to earth.

• The entire fleet was grounded after the storm closed every runway.

• He was grounded for a week after missing his curfew twice.

• Her argument was solidly grounded in years of careful research.

• His parents raised him to be grounded, practical, and unimpressed by money.

• Thick fog left hundreds of passengers stranded and the planes grounded overnight.

Where does grounded come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English noun 'grund', which meant the bottom of something, the foundation, or the earth beneath your feet. From that noun came the verb 'to ground', meaning to place firmly on a base or to run a ship onto the bottom in shallow water. By adding the participle ending -ed, English produced 'grounded', literally 'set on solid ground'. Over the centuries the figurative senses multiplied: a person became grounded when they were sensible and emotionally steady, an aircraft was grounded when it was kept on the earth rather than allowed to fly, and a teenager was grounded when confined to the home as a punishment. The same 'grund' ancestor also gives us 'ground' the noun and the German cognate 'Grund', meaning reason or basis, and the spelling stays reassuringly regular: just the base word plus -ed.

How the word is built

• ground (from Old English grund: bottom, foundation, earth)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)