Meanings
- informaluncountableThe state of being filthy; grubbiness.
Chad used to work as a coal miner, but couldn't handle the constant grunge.
- uncountableentertainmentA subgenre of alternative rock, originating from Seattle, Washington in the early 1990s, which melds punk and metal.
Alice liked to wear plaids and ripped jeans, and listen to grunge.
1 more example
Grunge was the de facto soundtrack of the early nineties. It’s also sometimes criticized for its sonic limitations—most groups played the same way, at the same speed and with the same worldview, usually mining the same handful of influences. It was, by design, a derivative musical form. But it did introduce at least one new idea to mainstream rock: a collective sense of self-aware skepticism.
2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
nounanything regarded as making something unclean
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Back-formation from grungy.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian гръндж
- гръндж (grăndž)subgenre of alternative music
Esperanto grunĝo
- grunĝosubgenre of alternative music
Finnish lika, grunge
- likadirt, filth
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
French grunge
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
German Schmutz, Dreck
- Schmutzdirt, filth
- Dreckdirt, filth
- Grungesubgenre of alternative music
Italian grunge
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
Korean 그런지
- 그런지 (geureonji)subgenre of alternative music
Norwegian grunge, grønsj
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
- grønsjsubgenre of alternative music
Polish obrzydlistwo, ohydztwo
- obrzydlistwodirt, filth
- ohydztwodirt, filth
- paskudztwodirt, filth
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
Russian гранж
- гранж (granž)subgenre of alternative music
Swedish smuts, lort
- smutsdirt, filth
- lortdirt, filth
- grungesubgenre of alternative music
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with grunge
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
grunge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grunge
“grunge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grunge. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grunge,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grunge.
Source: grunge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.