Meaning & use
grazed
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“grazed” is a form of “graze”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense of graze: fed on growing grass, or let animals feed on a field.
Grammar: No object when animals feed: the cows grazed. With an object, a person lets animals feed: he grazed sheep on the hill.
Patterns
- something grazed
- someone grazed something
The horses grazed quietly in the meadow all afternoon.
Farmers once grazed their cattle on the common land.
Sheep grazed along the slope as the sun went down.
verbtransitive
Past tense of graze: scraped skin slightly, or touched something lightly in passing.
Grammar: Takes an object: the bullet grazed his arm.
Patterns
- something grazed something
She fell off her bike and grazed her knee on the pavement.
The ball just grazed the top of the crossbar.
His sleeve grazed the wet paint as he walked past.
adjectivebefore a noun
Having a minor scrape on the skin, or used as pasture by animals.
Grammar: Usually describes a body part or land: a grazed elbow, grazed land.
He came home with a grazed elbow and muddy shorts.
The grazed fields looked short and neat.
She put a plaster on her grazed hand.
Word forms
| base form | graze |
|---|---|
| third person singular | grazes |
| -ing form | grazing |
Common combinations
- grazed his knee
- The boy grazed his knee while playing football.
- grazed in the field
- The goats grazed in the field all summer.
- grazed the surface
- The car just grazed the surface of the wall.
- freshly grazed
- The freshly grazed skin stung in the water.
- grazed on the hillside
- The cattle grazed on the hillside until evening.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scraped
- Scraped suggests more force and a rougher injury, whereas grazed implies a light surface mark.
- brushed
- Brushed means a very gentle touch and does not suggest any damage.
- fed
- Fed is general, while grazed refers to animals eating grass in a field.
- skimmed
- Skimmed describes moving just above a surface without touching, so it is less physical than grazed.
Word family
Commonly confused: grazed or grazed vs gazed?
grazed vs grazed vs gazed
Gazed means looked steadily at something, and has nothing to do with scraping or feeding.
Practice
Which word completes the sentence? The cyclist fell and ___ his elbow on the road.
Choose one answer.
Grazed means lightly scraped the skin. Gazed sounds similar but refers to looking steadily.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “grazed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.