Definition

1. Noun:

   • A man who has recently been married or is about to be married; a bridegroom: The male partner in a wedding ceremony.
   • A person employed to take care of horses: Someone whose job is to feed, exercise, and clean horses, and often to clean the stables.

2. Verb:

   • To care for one's own or another's appearance, especially by cleaning and styling: To make neat, tidy, and well-dressed.
   • To clean and care for an animal, especially by brushing or cleaning its fur or coat.
   • To prepare or train someone for a particular role or position, often over a period of time: To coach and develop someone for future responsibility or success.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • The groom looked nervous but happy as he waited at the altar.
  • The stable groom mucked out the stalls every morning.

• Verb:

  • She spent an hour grooming herself before the important interview.
  • He grooms his dog every day to keep its coat free of mats.
  • The senior executive was grooming her assistant to take over the department.

Advanced Usage

• "To be well-groomed": To have a neat, clean, and tidy appearance.

  • For the corporate event, all attendees were expected to be well-groomed.

• "To groom someone for something": To carefully prepare someone for a specific job, role, or status.

  • The academy grooms young athletes for Olympic competition.

Variants and Related Words

• Bridegroom (n): A more formal or traditional term for a man on his wedding day; often shortened to "groom."

  • The bridegroom kissed the bride.

• Grooming (n): The act or process of making something or someone neat and tidy, or the process of training and preparing someone.

  • Personal grooming is important in many professions.
  • His grooming for leadership began at a very young age.

Synonyms

• Noun (for a man getting married): Bridegroom.
• Noun (for a horse caretaker): Stablehand, ostler.
• Verb (for appearance): Preen, tidy, primp.
• Verb (for training): Prepare, train, coach, nurture.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Groom" is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. Its meanings are typically expressed directly or with prepositions like "for.")

Related Idioms

• "Groomed for success": Carefully prepared and trained to be successful.
  • From a young age, she was groomed for success in the family business.

Noun

1. a man who has recently been married
2. someone employed in a stable to take care of the horses
3. a man participant in his own marriage ceremony

Verb

1. care for one's external appearance
   • He is always well-groomed
2. give a neat appearance to
   • groom the dogs
   • dress the horses
3. educate for a future role or function
   • He is grooming his son to become his successor
   • The prince was prepared to become King one day
   • They trained him to be a warrior