Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to groom
Participle: groomed
Gerund: grooming
Cognates
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Indicative
Present
| I | groom |
| you | groom |
| he;she;it | grooms |
| we | groom |
| you | groom |
| they | groom |
Perfect
| I | have groomed |
| you | have groomed |
| he;she;it | has groomed |
| we | have groomed |
| you | have groomed |
| they | have groomed |
Past
| I | groomed |
| you | groomed |
| he;she;it | groomed |
| we | groomed |
| you | groomed |
| they | groomed |
Pluperfect
| I | had groomed |
| you | had groomed |
| he;she;it | had groomed |
| we | had groomed |
| you | had groomed |
| they | had groomed |
Future
| I | will groom |
| you | will groom |
| he;she;it | will groom |
| we | will groom |
| you | will groom |
| they | will groom |
Future Perfect
| I | will have groomed |
| you | will have groomed |
| he;she;it | will have groomed |
| we | will have groomed |
| you | will have groomed |
| they | will have groomed |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | groom |
| you | groom |
| he;she;it | groom |
| we | groom |
| you | groom |
| they | groom |
Perfect
| I | have groomed |
| you | have groomed |
| he;she;it | have groomed |
| we | have groomed |
| you | have groomed |
| they | have groomed |
Imperfect
| I | groomed |
| you | groomed |
| he;she;it | groomed |
| we | groomed |
| you | groomed |
| they | groomed |
Pluperfect
| I | had groomed |
| you | had groomed |
| he;she;it | had groomed |
| we | had groomed |
| you | had groomed |
| they | had groomed |
Conditional
Present
| I | would groom |
| you | would groom |
| he;she;it | would groom |
| we | would groom |
| you | would groom |
| they | would groom |
Perfect
| I | would have groomed |
| you | would have groomed |
| he;she;it | would have groomed |
| we | would have groomed |
| you | would have groomed |
| they | would have groomed |
Imperative
| you | groom |
| we | Let's groom |
| you | groom |
Verbs conjugated like 'groom'
abandon,
abduct,
abear,
aberr,
abject,
abord,
abort,
abound,
abraid,
abray,
abrook,
abscind,
abscond,
absist,
absorb,
abstain,
abstract,
accend,
accent,
accept, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'groom'
broom,
gloom,
groop,
room,
vroom,
bloom,
boom,
brood,
brook,
cloom,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. c.1225,
grome "male child, boy, youth." No known cognates in other Gmc. languages. Perhaps from O.E.
*groma, related to
growan "grow;" or from O.Fr.
grommet "servant" (cf. M.E.
gromet "ship's boy," 1229). The fact is, it appeared 13c. and nobody knows from whence. Meaning "male servant who attends to horses" is from 1667. The verb is first attested 1809; the transferred sense of "to tidy (oneself) up" is from 1843; fig. sense of "to prepare a candidate" is from 1887, originally in U.S. politics.
2. From Middle English grom, grome (“man-child, boy, youth”), of uncertain origin. Apparently related to Middle Dutch grom (“boy”), Old Icelandic grómr, gromr (“man, manservant, boy”), Old French gromme (“manservant”), and also to Middle Dutch grom (“fish guts”), Middle Low German grôm (“fish guts”), from the same Proto-Germanic root. Possibly from Old English *grōm, from Proto-West Germanic *grōm (“swollen belly, stomach tumour, womb-child, fish roe, fish guts”), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną (“to grow”).
3. Alternative etymology describes Middle English grom, grome as an alteration of gome (“man”) with an intrusive r (also found in bridegroom, hoarse, cartridge, etc.), with the Middle Dutch and Old Icelandic cognates following similar variation of their respective forms. See: Proto-Germanic '
*grōaną'.
Verbs referencing "groom"
Sranan
gruma.
Sample Sentences
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2010 (April 20) "The Collection" s1e6 of TV series Justified
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The wife didn't care about riding, but Owen did. Well, he cared about me. I went from doing everything — grooming, feeding, looking out — to being handed the reins of the most magnificent creatures ready to ride.
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Rabbits show dominance by demanding to be groomed, while cats show dominance by grooming the other. A perfect relationship 💕 [2026 July 5, @contemprainn.bsky.social, Bluesky (post), archived from the original on 06 Jul 2026:]
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It appears that Broderick's seconds, although cool, brave men, were entirely without experience in arranging a duel, and did not know that a man should be groomed for one as carefully as a horse is groomed for a race. [1912, The Contest for California in 1861: How Colonel E.D. Baker Saved the Pacific States to the Union, page 51]
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It is of special interest to note the subjects considered as important to those who are being groomed for top administrative posts [1953, The President's Report to the Board of Regents for the Academic Year page 146]
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2002, Clone High episode 1 - "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"
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Our mission is to unfreeze those clones, send them back to high school, and secretly groom them to one day rule the world. Failure to do so could mean world leaders just keep getting worse.
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2009, Dani Johnson, Grooming the Next Generation for Success
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2012 (February 28) in "The Man Behind the Curtain" s3e7 of TV series Justified
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I was the son he always wanted. He groomed me to take over someday, but now Sammy's got the houses, the cars, the money, the juice.
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India is run by gerontocrats and epigones: grey hairs and groomed heirs. [2013 May 11, “What a waste”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 12:]
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2023 in "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" episode 5 "Deux Amours" regarding Laurent
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Daryl "But he's gonna be safe? I'm afraid those nuns raised him a little -- a little soft."
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Losang "He'll be well looked after. Nurtured and groomed... to be the leader he's destined to be."
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2009, Suzanne Ost, Child Pornography and Sexual Grooming: Legal and Societal Responses