grudging

adjective

grudg·​ing ˈgrə-jiŋ 

1

: unwilling, reluctant

a grudging supporter of the reform movement

a grudging admirer

2

: done, given, or allowed unwillingly, reluctantly, or sparingly

grudging compliance

grudgingly adverb

Did you know?

The English language has been carrying a grudge for a long time—since the 13th century to be exact, when it took the Anglo-French verb grucher/grucer and made it grucchen/grudgen. Both words meant “to grumble and complain” (and if their shared definition, combined with their spelling and pronunciation, reminds you of a certain furry green Muppet who lives in a trash can, you’re onto something: grouch is thought to be a grucchen descendant). Over time grucchen/grudgen became grudge, which picked up the additional, closely related meanings of “to be unwilling to give or allow” and “to allow with reluctance or resentment,” as when Virginia Woolf wrote “if you come to grudge even the sun for shining … fruit does not ripen.” Grudging, which developed from grudge, made its English debut in the 1530s, and has been used ever since to describe someone who is unwilling or reluctant (“a grudging supporter”) or something done or given reluctantly or sparingly (“grudging respect”).

Examples of grudging in a Sentence

Her theories have begun to win grudging acceptance in the scientific community.

He has earned the grudging admiration of his rivals.

Recent Examples on the Web

Microsoft is a conservative organisation, and its consideration of bitcoin is founded on a (perhaps, grudging) acceptance of important geopolitical, macroeconomic, and adoption trends. —Sandy Carter, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024

Negotiations over such intellectual property can mean the difference between antiretroviral medicine that costs over $10,000 per year—the price originally set in the 1990s by monopoly patent holders—and the eventual grudging concessions that dropped the drug prices to less than a dollar a day. —Fran Quigley, Foreign Affairs, 13 July 2015

Ben Ali retained grudging support throughout the 1990s because of the bloody civil war in neighboring Algeria between its secular single-party regime and its own Islamist opposition. —Michele Penner Angrist, Foreign Affairs, 16 Jan. 2011

Things were going fair to middling with his candidacy until Biden’s catastrophic, catatonic debate performance in June, which caused a major Democratic freak-out and resulted in his grudging departure from the ticket and endorsement of Harris. —Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

from present participle of grudge entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1531, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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