# grateful
## English
### Alternative forms

* gratefull (archaic)

### Etymology

From Latin gratus (“pleasing, agreeable”) + -ful, morphologically grate +‎ -ful.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡɹeɪtfəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪtfəl
* Hyphenation: grate‧ful

### Adjective

grateful (comparative gratefuller or more grateful, superlative gratefullest or most grateful)
* Appreciative; thankful.
    I'm grateful that you helped me out.
    I'm grateful to you for helping me out.
** 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎:Carroll thought he had equalised with his header against the bar with eight minutes left. Liverpool claimed the ball had cross the line and Chelsea were grateful for a miraculous intervention from Cech to turn his effort on to the woodwork.
* (obsolete or archaic) Pleasing, welcome.
** c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:Neighbour, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it.
** 1659–1660, Thomas Stanley, “[The Doctrine of Epicurus.] Chap[ter] XXIII. Of Fortitude, against Discontent of Mind.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Third and Last Volume, […], volume III, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring, […], →OCLC, 5th part (Containing the Epicurean Sect), 3rd part of philosophy (Ethick, or Morals), page 261:[T]he aſſwagement of his [a wise man's] diſcontent conſiſts in two things, formerly preſcribed as remedies againſt corporeall pain; viz. Diverſion of his thoughts from his loſſe, or the cause of it; and an application of them to thoſe things, which he knowes to be gratefull and pleaſant to his mind.
** 1839, Robert Hooper, Klein Grant, Lexicon Medicum: or, Medical Dictionary, 4th edition, page 1177:[…] its glands give forth gum arabic; and its flowers an odour of a very grateful fragrance.
** 1841, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Skeleton in Armor‎:Fell I upon my spear, Oh, death was grateful!
** 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, chapter 67, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:[…] grateful underfoot was the damp and slightly yielding beach, from which the waves seemed just retired.
** 1929, “Introduction”, in Theodore Howard Banks, Jr., transl., Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, New York: F. S. Crofts & Co., Inc., →OCLC, pages 7–8:The system of four-beat alliterative Anglo-Saxon poetry permitted such a range of unaccented syllables between stresses that an exact reproduction of this quality seemed undesirable. The translator, has, therefore, permitted himself no more than two unaccented syllables between stresses [...] The resultant effect is a freely equivalenced anapestic measure, perhaps more grateful to modern ears than the less normalized beat of the original.

#### Synonyms

* thankful
* appreciative

#### Antonyms

* ungrateful

#### Derived terms

* gratefully
* gratefulness
* overgrateful

#### Related terms

* gratitude

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “grateful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “grateful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “grateful”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.