grovel

Verb

Verb Forms: groveled, grovelling, grovels, grovelled

To lie or crawl face downward in submission or fear.
show submission or fear
To be prone on the ground.
To crawl.
To abase oneself before another person.
To be slavishly nice to someone or apologize in the hope of securing something.
To take pleasure in mundane activities.

Examples

Some players GROVEL for high-scoring letters, hoping for a miracle rack.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English *grovelen, from Old Norse grufla, grœfla (“to grovel”), from Proto-Germanic *grubilōną (“to dig, delve into”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ‑ (“to dig, scrape, scrabble, scratch”); akin to Old Norse á grufu (“on one's belly”) ( > Old Norse grúfa (“to lie face down, grovel”)). Cognate with Scots grovel, gruvil (“to grovel”), German grübeln (“to meditate, ponder”), Norwegian Nynorsk gruvla (“to grovel”). Compare also West Frisian groebeltsje (“to make a mess, skip school, skive”), Dutch grobbelen (“to grope, root, grub”).

Synonyms

cower, crawl, creep, cringe, fawn

Scrabble Score: 10

grovel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
grovel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
grovel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

grovel: valid Words With Friends Word