Grind means repeating the same tasks in a game over and over to level up a character or collect useful items. The second meaning is an exhausting routine, a hard and boring task: a real grind, the daily grind. The gaming meaning is slang for talking about games. A grind in the sense of routine is simply informal: in IELTS Speaking you can say It was a bit of a grind, but in an essay tedious or demanding works better.
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grind (for) + XP/gold/levels; be a (real) grind; the daily grind
- I spent all weekend grinding for gold so I could buy the new armour.
- Revising for finals is a real grind, but there are only three weeks left.
- Back to the daily grind tomorrow, I can't believe the holiday's over.
What changed
First versionWriting my thesis every evening after work is real grind.
RevisionWriting my thesis every evening after work is a real grind.
Grind in the sense of a hard task isn't used without an article: a real grind, the daily grind. Without a, is real grind sounds cut off. The article is easy to lose because the similar phrase hard work takes none, but grind here is countable.
A grind isn't just any routine. Routine is simply your usual way of doing things, and it can be pleasant: My morning routine is coffee and a short walk. A grind always means the task drains your energy and has become tiresome.
Your turn
Commuting two hours a day and writing the same reports every week is such a ___.
Show the answer
grind — Two hours on the road every day and the same reports every week is hard and boring, so such a grind. Such a vibe praises the atmosphere and doesn't fit a complaint about routine.
Describe a task at work or in your studies that wears you out. Say what exactly you have to do and how long it will go on.
Checking hundreds of invoices every Friday is a real grind, and it will go on until the audit ends in March.
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