grating

Other forms: gratings

When something is grating, it's extremely harsh and irritating, like the grating sound of your alarm clock early on a Monday morning.

As an adjective, grating is particularly good for describing unpleasant sounds, like the grating voice of someone who's nagging you. As a noun, a grating is an object in the shape of a grid, with parallel bars forming regular squares or rectangles. This kind of grating is often used as a cover for an opening, like the grating that covers a storm drain in the gutter or an exhaust fan in the ceiling.

Definitions of grating

1. adjective

   unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
   synonyms: gravelly, rasping, raspy, rough, scratchy

   cacophonic, cacophonous

   having an unpleasant sound
2. adjective

   causing irritation or annoyance
   synonyms: annoying, bothersome, galling, irritating, nettlesome, pesky, pestering, pestiferous, plaguey, plaguy, teasing, vexatious, vexing

   disagreeable

   not to your liking
3. noun

   a barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air
   synonyms: grate

   types:

   grille, radiator grille

   grating that admits cooling air to car's radiator

   type of:

   barrier

   a structure or object that impedes free movement
4. noun

   a frame of iron bars to hold a fire
   synonyms: grate

   type of:

   framework

   a structure supporting or containing something
5. noun

   optical device consisting of a surface with many parallel grooves in it; disperses a beam of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) into its wavelengths to produce its spectrum
   synonyms: diffraction grating

   types:

   echelon

   a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

   type of:

   optical device

   a device for producing or controlling light