- any animal or plant that lives close to the ground or at the bottom of a lake, river, etc
- (in Elizabethan theatre) a spectator standing in the yard in front of the stage and paying least
- a person on the ground as distinguished from one in an aircraft
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
ground•ling
(ground′ling),USA pronunciation n.
- Botany, Zoologya plant or animal that lives on or close to the ground.
- Fishany of various fishes that live at the bottom of the water.
- a spectator, reader, or other person of unsophisticated or uncultivated tastes;
an uncritical or uncultured person. - a member of a theater audience who sits in one of the cheaper seats.
- ground1 + -ling1 1595–1605
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
groundling /ˈɡraʊndlɪŋ/ n