grateful

grateful
\ \ [16] Grateful is a curious sort of adjective. The grate that a grateful person is full of is a now obsolete adjective, meaning ‘pleasing’ and ‘thankful’, which was derived from Latin grātus. It is unusual for adjectives ending in -ful themselves to be formed from adjectives, rather than from nouns, and it has been suggested in this case that the related Italian gradevolepleasing’ may have had some influence. Latin grātus itself meant ‘pleasing’ as well as ‘thankful’, and has also given English congratulate [16], gratify [16], gratitude [16], and gratuity [16], and, via the derived noun grātia, grace and gratis [15].
\ \ Cf.CONGRATULATE, GRACE, GRATIS, GRATITUDE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Grateful — Grate ful, a. [Grate, a. + full; cf. F. gr[ e] thanks, good will, fr. L. gratum, neut. of gratus agreeable, grateful. See {Grate}, a.] 1. Having a due sense of benefits received; kindly disposed toward one from whom a favor has been received;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • grateful — 1 Grateful, thankful both mean feeling or expressing one s gratitude. Grateful is more commonly employed to express a proper sense of favors received from another person or other persons {a grateful child} {a grateful recipient of charity} {the… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • grateful — [adj1] appreciative beholden, gratified, indebted, obliged, pleased, thankful; concept 403 Ant. heedless, thankless, unappreciative, ungrateful grateful [adj2] pleasing, nice acceptable, agreeable, comforting, congenial, consoling, delectable,… …   New thesaurus

  • grateful — (adj.) 1550s, pleasing to the mind, also full of gratitude, from obsolete adj. grate agreeable, thankful, from L. gratus pleasing (see GRACE (Cf. grace)). A most unusual formation [Weekley]. Hard to think of another case where English uses FUL… …   Etymology dictionary

  • grateful — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ feeling or showing gratitude. DERIVATIVES gratefully adverb. ORIGIN from obsolete grate pleasing, thankful , from Latin gratus …   English terms dictionary

  • grateful — [grāt′fəl] adj. [obs grate, pleasing (< L gratus: see GRACE) + FUL] 1. feeling or expressing gratitude; thankful; appreciative 2. causing gratitude; welcome; pleasing gratefully adv. gratefulness n …   English World dictionary

  • grateful — grate|ful W3 [ˈgreıtfəl] adj [Date: 1500 1600; Origin: grate pleasing, thankful (16 17 centuries), from Latin gratus] 1.) feeling that you want to thank someone because of something kind that they have done, or showing this feeling ≠ ↑ungrateful… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • grateful — adj. VERBS ▪ be, feel, look, seem, sound ▪ remain ADVERB ▪ extremely, really …   Collocations dictionary

  • grateful — grate|ful [ greıtfəl ] adjective ** feeling that you want to thank someone because they have given you something or done something for you: Thanks for coming with me. I m really grateful. grateful for: I m very grateful for all your help with the …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • grateful */*/ — UK [ˈɡreɪtf(ə)l] / US [ˈɡreɪtfəl] adjective feeling that you want to thank someone because they have given you something or have done something for you Thanks for coming with me. I m really grateful. grateful for: I m very grateful for all your… …   English dictionary

  • grateful — adj. 1) grateful for; to (I am grateful to you for your help) 2) grateful that + clause (I m grateful that you can help) * * * [ greɪtf(ə)l] to (I am grateful to you for your help) grateful for grateful that + clause (I m grateful that you can… …   Combinatory dictionary

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