1
2
a
: a person responsible for the feeding, exercising, and stabling of horses
b(1)
archaic
: manservant
(2)
: one of several officers of the English royal household
groomed; grooming; grooms
1
: to clean and maintain the appearance of (an animal)
especially
: to maintain the health and condition of the coat of (a horse, dog, etc.) by brushing, combing, currying, or similar attention
2
: to make neat or attractive
an impeccably groomed person
3
a
: to make (someone) ready for a specific objective : prepare
was being groomed as a presidential candidate
b
: to build a trusting relationship with (a minor) in order to exploit them especially for nonconsensual sexual activity
: to groom oneself
Examples of groom in a Sentence
Verb
The horses are being groomed for the competition.
She spent hours grooming herself.
She always seems to be perfectly groomed and neatly dressed.
He is being groomed to take over the company.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ashlyn Robinette, People.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Meet Robin, the sister of the bride and a no-nonsense New Yorker with a lot of errands to run—including picking up the groom’s estranged son from the airport.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 Aug. 2025
Harry Kraemer, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Riley might have cast such a group as brutally anti-feminist, the novelistic equivalent of the polygamist compound in the HBO series Big Love, where girls are heavily groomed by the community’s elders and poverty prevents them from leaving.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for groom
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Noun
About an hour later, the bride and groom left their wedding.
—Ashlyn Robinette, People.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Meet Robin, the sister of the bride and a no-nonsense New Yorker with a lot of errands to run—including picking up the groom’s estranged son from the airport.
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 Aug. 2025
Verb
Over the past two decades, an increasing number of boards have become more vocal about wanting to interact with company executives being groomed as possible CEO succession candidates.
—Harry Kraemer, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
Riley might have cast such a group as brutally anti-feminist, the novelistic equivalent of the polygamist compound in the HBO series Big Love, where girls are heavily groomed by the community’s elders and poverty prevents them from leaving.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for groom
Cite this Entry
“Groom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/groom. Accessed 1 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
1
a
archaic
: a male servant
b
: a person in charge of horses
2
groom
2 of 2 verb1
: to clean and keep up the appearance of (as the coat of a horse or dog)
2
: to make neat, attractive, or acceptable
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