hear on the grapevine

verb

To hear as rumor; to learn through friends of friends, etc.

“I heard on the office grapevine that you’re leaving us.”

Similar
hear through the grapevine
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Meanings

verbhear on the grapevine (third-person singular simple present hears on the grapevine, present participle hearing on the grapevine, simple past and past participle heard on the grapevine)

present singular third person hears on the grapevine · participle present hearing on the grapevine · participle past heard on the grapevine · past heard on the grapevine

  1. informaltransitiveTo hear as rumor; to learn through friends of friends, etc.

    I heard on the office grapevine that you’re leaving us.

    1 more example

    '[…] But most of me mad dad's crew took off to American from what I can make out' - he's talking too much, he has to stop - 'from what I hear on the family grapevine, that's where they went, New York, their loss as far as I'm concerned, don't know what they're missing, eh? […]'

    1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, paperback edition, Virago Press, page 124

    Synonyms: hear through the grapevine

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo hear as rumor; to learn through friends of friends, etc.

Similar
hear through the grapevine
Also see
hear through the grapevine

Origin

See hear through the grapevine.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hear on the grapevine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20on%20the%20grapevine

MLA

“hear on the grapevine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20on%20the%20grapevine. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hear on the grapevine,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hear%20on%20the%20grapevine.

Source: hear on the grapevine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.