grok
/ˈɡɹɑk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.88 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To understand (something) intuitively, to know (something) without having to think intellectually.
Slang; Transitive verb
verb
To fully and completely understand something in all of its details and intricacies.
Slang; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "I do not grok all fullness of what I read. In the history written by Master William Shakespeare I found myself full of happiness at the death of Romeo. Then I read on and learned that he had discorporated too soon – or so I thought I grokked. Why?"
- "In his movie—right right right—and they all grok over that. Grok―and then it's clear, without anybody having to say it."
- "He freely plucks notions and verbiage from science fiction to describe everything from mountain-related undertakings to political subterfuge – like "grok", a term from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, to denote intuitive understanding."
- "“(clapping) Stan, wake up! Can't you see? Without the shackles of religion, you're free to do whatever you want. Break a commandment, break all of 'em.” “How will that help?” “Uh, pleasure -- ever heard of it? Ever grokked it? Pleasure is the road to happiness. People talk about filling the void as if it's a bad thing. It's actually full of nerve endings.”"
- "Because what he never managed to grok then was that the company he created was destined to become a template for all of humanity, the digital reflection of masses of people across the globe. Including — and especially — the bad ones."
- "I finally grok Perl."
Etymology
Coined ex nihilo by American author and engineer Robert A. Heinlein in 1961 in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein invented the word for his fictitious Martian language. It is described as meaning "to drink" and, figuratively, "to drink in all available aspects of reality", "to become one with the observed". William Tenn asked Heinlein if it could have been inspired by the term griggo, which featured in Tenn's "Venus and the Seven Sexes" (1949); Heinlein "looked startled, then thought about it for a long time (and) shrugged, (saying) 'It's possible, very possible.'"
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɹɑk/
- British English: /ˈɡɹɒk/