grate
part of speech
verb (grate, grates, grated, grating); noun (a grate, grates)
meaning for a pupil
1) To rub food such as cheese or carrot against a tool with sharp holes so it falls off in thin strips or tiny bits. tree →
2) A metal frame that holds the coal or wood in a fireplace. tree →
3) A metal frame with gaps that covers a drain or hole in the ground. tree →
4) To make a harsh, unpleasant scraping sound, or to annoy someone («it grates on me»). tree →
sense in the lessons
In cooking lessons and recipes: «grate the cheese», «finely grated», «grated carrot». In safety: keep fingers away from the sharp side, and do not drop things through a drain grate. In stories, a voice or sound that «grates» is harsh and unpleasant, and something that «grates on your nerves» annoys you again and again.
examples
- Can you grate some cheese for the pizza? tree →
- Mum grated a carrot into the salad. tree →
- Be careful not to grate your knuckles. tree →
- The fire was burning in the grate. tree →
- My key fell through the drain grate in the street. tree →
- The old gate grated on its rusty hinges. tree →
- His loud chewing really grates on me. tree →
- Add two cups of grated cheese to the bowl. tree →
- There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.” tree →
note
Homophone: «great» (very good, very big) sounds the same as «grate». «Grated» = rubbed into bits; «grateful» = thankful (a different word that only looks related). Past «grated». A «grate» in a fireplace is countable: «a grate, two grates».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «grate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.