What does groom mean?
Word: Groom
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Groom means a man on his wedding day. It can also mean a person who looks after horses, and as a verb, to clean and brush an animal.
Synonyms: bridegroom
How do you spell groom?
Syllables: groom
Tricky part: The long oo sound needs no e after the m: groome is the usual slip.
Watch out for: groome, grome
Memory tip: The groom is in such a hurry to reach the bride that he dashes off the end of the word without waiting for an e.
Groom in a sentence
Example 1: The groom wore a cream suit and a bright red tie.
Example 2: Riya grooms her dog every Sunday with a soft brush.
Example 3: The groom at the stables fed the horses before sunrise.
Fun Fact
In Old English the word was brydguma, from guma, meaning man. It later changed to groom because people mixed it up with an old word groom, meaning a serving boy.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the option with no spelling errors:
a) groom, bride, garland, guest
b) groom, bried, garland, guesst
c) groom, bryde, garlend, guest
d) groom, bride, garlund, guist
Show answer
a) groom, bride, garland, guest. Bride ends -ide, garland ends -and and guest has a silent u.
Sound Check
Which word rhymes with the given word?
groom
a) comb
b) roam
c) grim
d) plume
Show answer
d) plume. Plume is spelt with u-e but has the same long 'oom' ending as groom.
Jumble Tumble
Choose the correct sequence of the jumbled letters to form a meaningful word:
mroog 12345
a) 52341
b) 54321
c) 25341
d) 15234
Show answer
a) 52341. Reading the letters at positions 5, 2, 3, 4 and 1 gives the word for the man beside the bride.
Word Champ
Choose the correct word for the blank:
At the wedding, the bride and the ________ sat on a stage covered with flowers.
a) gloom
b) groom
c) groan
d) broom
Show answer
b) groom. The man who is getting married sits beside the bride: he is the groom.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. 'The cat spent an hour grooming itself.' What was the cat doing?
a) sleeping on the sofa
b) chasing a ball of wool
c) hiding under the bed
d) licking its fur clean
Show answer
d) licking its fur clean
2. 'The school grooms its senior pupils to lead the assembly.' What does grooms mean here?
a) trains and prepares
b) praises and rewards
c) brushes and washes
d) dresses and feeds
Show answer
a) trains and prepares
