What's the difference between grovel and stoop?

Grovel


Definition:

  • (adv.) To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move uneasily with the body prostrate on the earth; to lie fiat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl.
  • (adv.) To tend toward, or delight in, what is sensual or base; to be low, abject, or mean.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Lord Young , the prime minister's enterprise adviser, was forced to issue a grovelling apology last night after he claimed most Britons "had never had it so good during this so called recession".
  • (2) And instead of celebrating bumper peak viewing figures of more than 20m for the England match, ITV was instead having to issue a grovelling apology.
  • (3) If they want me to get down and grovel on the floor; no, never.
  • (4) I was showing a person groveling to take back a statement made long ago!
  • (5) This week his previous grovelling before communist China over steel tariffs has returned to haunt him.
  • (6) From 1969 to 1985 he also wrote the Grovel gossip column in Private Eye, whose then editor, Richard Ingrams, dubbed him the Greatest Living Englishman despite, or because of, more writs.
  • (7) It didn't happen and, as Simon Jenkins put it , "Cameron could hardly have grovelled lower.
  • (8) "With her blonde hair and her ability to ask the most grovelling questions, she is rapidly becoming the female Fabricant – or at least Fabricant Mark I, before he stopped crawling and became an elder statesman."
  • (9) There's even a slot called Friday Boss, in which the programme's usual rules of engagement are set aside and its reporters grovel before the corporate idol.
  • (10) Bashir immediately erupted in a ball of fiery rage, cutting Hardin off, refusing to let him speak, repeatedly demanding an apology for this grievous assault on the integrity of a military man, and then – when Hardin failed sufficiently to grovel for the crime of speaking ill of Gen Dempsey – Bashir kicked Hardin off the show by abruptly ending the interview.
  • (11) The Countess of Wessex, 2001 Sophie Wessex reportedly had to write grovelling apologies to Prince Charles, Tony Blair and William Hague after Mahmood lured her into making highly embarrassing comments about them.
  • (12) Some MPs are saying the better solution would be to fine them, rather than to require them to grovel in front of the highest court in the land.
  • (13) Organisers of a conference celebrating the best and brightest businesspeople in the north of England have issued a grovelling apology over lack of female representation.
  • (14) HSBC has made mistakes in the past, and for them I am very sorry,” his successor Douglas Flint, the former long-serving finance director, told shareholders in July 2012: “Candidly, in particular areas we fell short of the standards that I, my colleagues, our regulators, customers, and investors expect.” A grovel was the only position Flint could adopt.
  • (15) The response from architects grovelling for the fame of a tower in their CVs is that they are "only obeying orders" from clients, and that tall buildings are "the future".
  • (16) For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him “groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad.
  • (17) There, in all its hilarious glory, is the joke by Jimmy Carr that was transmitted on Loose Ends at the weekend, for the broadcast of which the BBC has issued a grovelling apology.
  • (18) It sees him mock his own grovelling appearance on BBC Newsnight in November, when he admitted that Dapper Laughs was “a type of comedy that I should not have been doing”.
  • (19) Michael Richards Made a grovelling apology over his 2006 rant in which he used the N-word, paradoxically on David Letterman's show.
  • (20) It said the intent was to demonstrate a resolute stand with places that share America's values – a hint at the Republican contender's claim that Obama has let down Washington's friends abroad while offering grovelling apologies to its enemies.

Stoop


Definition:

  • (n.) Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda, at a house door.
  • (n.) A vessel of liquor; a flagon.
  • (n.) A post fixed in the earth.
  • (v. i.) To bend the upper part of the body downward and forward; to bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking; to assume habitually a bent position.
  • (v. i.) To yield; to submit; to bend, as by compulsion; to assume a position of humility or subjection.
  • (v. i.) To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend.
  • (v. i.) To come down as a hawk does on its prey; to pounce; to souse; to swoop.
  • (v. i.) To sink when on the wing; to alight.
  • (v. t.) To bend forward and downward; to bow down; as, to stoop the body.
  • (v. t.) To cause to incline downward; to slant; as, to stoop a cask of liquor.
  • (v. t.) To cause to submit; to prostrate.
  • (v. t.) To degrade.
  • (n.) The act of stooping, or bending the body forward; inclination forward; also, an habitual bend of the back and shoulders.
  • (n.) Descent, as from dignity or superiority; condescension; an act or position of humiliation.
  • (n.) The fall of a bird on its prey; a swoop.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Özil showed great determination to get into the six-yard area, sprinting forwards and turning in the cross with a stooping header.
  • (2) In case the muscles cannot compensate the anterior stooping, the spine can be taken back straight by posterior pelvic tilting.
  • (3) Her stooped figure shuffles slowly in, manoeuvring a giant shopping trolley around the door.
  • (4) Anyone who allows himself to stoop to such polemics shows that they are running out of proper arguments”, said Jürgen Hardt, the foreign affairs spokesman for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
  • (5) Mark Boylan, who has a condition called neurofibromatosis which causes large tumours to grow on the face, said: "As a genuine Top Gear fan, I was gutted the presenters felt the need to stoop to such a low level.
  • (6) I look at it from an investigators' standpoint, because I didn't have anything to do with it of course, because I would never stoop as low as to do anything like that, but I do understand that in that case, the peanuts went in through the sunroof, and then filled the entire car to the very top.
  • (7) His inswinging ball eluded Winston Reid at the front post but found Antonio, whose stooping header came off his marker Deeney and past the bewildered Heurelho Gomes.
  • (8) Motor evaluation disclosed moderate bradykinesia, rigidity and rest tremor, shuffling gait, poor facial mimic, stooped posture, and his speech was low and monotonous; deep tendon reflexes were brisk.
  • (9) If the reaction to another Gawker story last year, since taken down, that possibly outed an executive is any indication, most news outlets already think of themselves as better and more virtuous than Gawker – they would never stoop so low as to publish a sex tape in the first place.
  • (10) He told parliament Australia would “never stoop to the level of those who hate us and fight evil with evil” but might have to shift “the delicate balance between freedom and security”.
  • (11) Even the CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky (come, come, let's not stoop that low) says the pitch is about as good as the club's recent results - their last 10 games in all competitions look like this: P10 W4 D1 L5.
  • (12) Their resistance broke only once, on 83 minutes, when Müller stole in behind Cole to score with a stooping header.
  • (13) United had threatened only sporadically before the stooping header from Evans made it 1-0.
  • (14) Between severe low back pain and both stooping or kneeling a dose-response relationship was found.
  • (15) Dynamic (trunk flexion-extension, lateral rotation-standing, stooping) and static (quiet sitting, rotation-sitting) movements were performed over a ten second interval.
  • (16) We stopped by a bridge and stooped to let a troop of macaques take pieces of fruit from our hands.
  • (17) Gerrard takes a booming corner to the far post, punched out by Heaton and when the ball breaks on the edge of the box Mason stoops to head it clear just as Skrtel tries to volley it.
  • (18) Bayern Munich 1-0 Barcelona (Muller 24) Thomas Muller stoops to head the ball past Victor Valdes from close range at the far post.
  • (19) There is the stoopingly low chair from which he wrote; and an ornamental gold dog Tolstoy slept with under his pillow as a boy.
  • (20) Presenting complaints were fatigue, pain and a stooped posture.