A groove is an indentation or rut in something — like the grooves on an old record.

Groove is rooted in an old Dutch word for "furrow" or "ditch." And that's just what a groove is: a carved out line, like wheel ruts in a muddy road or the narrow opening that a sliding door moves in. If you can't "find your groove," you feel off track and out of whack. But when you're "in the groove," everything is working smoothly and you've found a good routine. And if someone says "let's groove!", they want to dance.

Definitions of groove
  1. noun
    synonyms: channel
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    a rectangular groove cut into a board so that another piece can fit into it
    flute, fluting
    a groove or furrow in cloth etc (particularly a shallow concave groove on the shaft of a column)
    a narrow groove beside a beading
    rabbet, rebate
    a rectangular groove made to hold two pieces together
    a groove on a phonograph recording
    a groove or furrow (especially one in soft earth caused by wheels)
    stria, striation
    the channel or break produced by erosion of relatively soft soil by water
    type of:
    depression, impression, imprint
    a concavity in a surface produced by pressing
  2. noun
    (anatomy) any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part
    synonyms: vallecula
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    costal groove
    groove between the ribs where the nerves and blood vessels are
    (anatomy) a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ into lobes
    (anatomy) any of the narrow grooves in an organ or tissue especially those that mark the convolutions on the surface of the brain
    hilum, hilus
    (anatomy) a depression or fissure where vessels or nerves or ducts enter a bodily organ
    type of:
    body part
    any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity
  3. noun
    a settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape
    synonyms: rut
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    type of:
    modus operandi, routine
    an unvarying or habitual method or procedure
  4. verb
    make a groove in, or provide with a groove
    groove a vinyl record”
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    cut a dado into or fit into a dado
    produce a ridge around the edge of
    type of:
    make an incision into by carving or cutting
  5. verb
    hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove
    synonyms: furrow, rut
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    type of:
    cut into, delve, dig, turn over
    turn up, loosen, or remove earth
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