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to groom

to groom

11 9.8
To gain a child's trust to sexually abuse them
  • verb
  • /ɡrum/
  • Offensive
translation icon : [OFENSIVO] ganar la confianza de alguien para explotarlo sexualmente
  • I was abused and and and groomed for nearly a decade by successive men.

So Peter was saying he was raped, he was sexually molested, groomed throughout this whole process.

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Examples

  • Many "tricky people" who are grooming children take many small baby steps to get where they want.

    Blog text (21)
  • Nine times out of ten, they are just grooming you for sex, whether you want it or not.

    Blog text (17)
  • And then you took your offer back and told me that you were going to groom me.

  • What he was willing to settle for was a chance to groom her.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Yeah, I feel like I was just groomed right there, right?

  • No, we groomed you since you were a child, okay?

  • So, he started grooming me in order to preach.

  • You were all three groomed much like a pedophile grooms a victim.

  • As a worst-case outcome, he may be grooming you for sexual predatory behavior.

    Blog text (17)
  • The police warned that many predators groom children online by gaining their trust before exploiting them.

Antonyms

1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

45 3.7

To protect someone or something from harm

Compounds

A couple who are getting married at a wedding

2 3.0

A man who will soon get married

How Manipulative

to exploit
214 5.6
to manipulate
382 6.1
to groom
  • Offensive
11 9.8
to cultivate
82 4.1
to befriend
61 3.0

Surface Forms

groom infinitive
groomed past
groomed past participle
grooming present participle
grooms third person singular

Etymology

The harmful meaning of groom — to gain someone's trust in order to abuse or exploit them — comes from the general idea of 'preparing' someone but used in a bad way. So when people say someone was groomed, they mean the person was slowly prepared and tricked so they could be hurt or exploited.