Grounds

How to spell grounds

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce grounds

What does grounds mean?

1. nounThe reasons or justification underpinning a belief, claim, or decision.
2. nounThe land and gardens surrounding a large building or institution.
3. nounThe solid residue left at the bottom after brewing coffee.

Grounds in a sentence

• The tenant had solid grounds for withholding the rent.

• Visitors may wander the hospital grounds between appointments.

• She tipped the spent coffee grounds into the compost bin.

• The appeal was dismissed on procedural grounds.

• The wedding was held in the grounds of a country mansion.

• A fine layer of grounds settled at the bottom of the pot.

Where does grounds come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural of 'ground', which descends from the Old English 'grund', meaning the bottom or foundation of something, including the bottom of the sea, a valley floor, or the solid earth underfoot. The word has close cousins across the Germanic family, such as the German 'Grund' and the Dutch 'grond', all carrying the same sense of a base or foundation. Over the centuries the literal idea of 'the floor or base' spread outward into figurative uses: the 'grounds' of an estate are the land on which a building stands, the 'grounds' for a decision are the foundation of reasoning that supports it, and coffee 'grounds' are the solid sediment that settles to the bottom. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable since Anglo-Saxon times, so the only real trap is remembering the plural -s in fixed phrases like 'grounds for divorce'.

How the word is built

• ground (Old English grund: bottom, foundation, earth)
• -s (plural)