grew

grew — verb

1. past form of 'grow' — to become larger in size, height, or amount over time, as

1.verbintransitiveA2
Definition

past form of 'grow' — to become larger in size, height, or amount over time, as a living thing or a measurable quantity.

Example

The oak tree in our backyard grew almost two metres last summer.

intransitive: grew + measurement phrase

Quan's tomato plants grew quickly after he watered them every morning.

intransitive: grew + adverb of manner

Common collocations
  • grew quickly
  • grew slowly
  • grew by [amount]
  • grew [number] cm/inches
Antonyms
  • shrank

    past tense of shrink, meaning became smaller

Grammar Patterns

grew [amount]

grew [prepositional phrase]

Usage Note

This is the irregular past simple form of 'grow'. Unlike regular verbs that add -ed, 'grew' changes its vowel entirely. The past participle is 'grown' (e.g., 'The tree has grown very tall').

Common Mistakes

The plant growed very fast.
The plant grew very fast.
'grew' is irregular and does not take the -ed ending.
He has grew a lot this year.
He has grown a lot this year.
Use 'grown' (past participle) after 'has/have/had', not 'grew'.

2. past form of 'grow' — to gradually change in character, quality, or feeling over

2.verbintransitiveA2
Definition

past form of 'grow' — to gradually change in character, quality, or feeling over time. This includes becoming different through an adjective (grew stronger) and developing a feeling or attitude through a to-infinitive (grew to love).

Example

As the year went by, Élise grew more confident in her French classes.

grew + comparative adjective (more confident)

The friendship between Ezra and Min grew stronger after they worked on the project together.

grew + comparative adjective (stronger)

Common collocations
  • grew stronger
  • grew weaker
  • grew closer
  • grew quieter
  • grew to like
  • grew to love
  • grew to hate
  • grew to understand
  • grew to accept
  • grew to appreciate
Synonyms
  • became

    more general; does not carry the sense of gradual, natural progression

  • developed

    focuses on the process of improvement or complexity increasing

  • came to

    very similar for the to-infinitive pattern; 'came to realise/love/accept'

  • began to

    emphasises the starting point rather than the gradual process

Antonyms
  • declined

    suggests a gradual worsening or decrease

Grammar Patterns

grew + adjective

grew + to-infinitive

Usage Note

Common in narrative writing to describe gradual change. Works with both adjectives (grew stronger, grew quieter) and to-infinitives (grew to like, grew to understand). The to-infinitive pattern always expresses a feeling or attitude that developed slowly, often after an initial period of not feeling that way.

Common Mistakes

I grew loving the city after a year.
I grew to love the city after a year.
Use 'grew + to-infinitive', not 'grew + -ing form', to show gradual development of a feeling.
Phrasal verbs

grew up

phrasal verb

past form of the phrasal verb 'grow up' — to gradually become an adult, or to develop from a child into an adult.

Quan grew up in a small fishing village on the coast.

Élise and her cousins grew up speaking French and English at home.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/2

'Became' is the most neutral choice and fits almost any situation where something changes. 'Developed' adds the idea of a process unfolding step by step — a skill, a habit, or a relationship. 'Evolved' implies a longer, more complex transformation, often in nature or society. 'Turned into' suggests a clearer before-and-after contrast, sometimes with an element of surprise. For everyday change, 'became' or 'grew' are most common; 'developed' is better for deliberate progress, and 'evolved' for deep, gradual shifts.

became ↗developed ↗evolvedturned into

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • grew in size
  • grew in number
  • grew over time
  • grew with age

Prepositions

Etymology

GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

'Grew' is the Old English past tense of 'growan' (to grow, increase). The word comes from the Germanic root *grō- (to grow), with relatives in Old Norse 'gróa', Old High German 'gruoen', and Dutch 'groeien'. The irregular past form has been stable since before the 12th century.