grok

[grok] /grÉ’k/
verb (used with object)
1.
to understand thoroughly and intuitively.
verb (used without object)
2.
to communicate sympathetically.
Origin
coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
Examples from the web for grok
  • So here's my list of stuff you may not grok about our nearest star.
  • Again, that's the only true way to understand this concept, to grok it.
Word Origin and History for grok
v.

"to understand empathically," 1961, arbitrary formation by U.S. science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) in his book "Stranger in a Strange Land." In popular use 1960s; perhaps obsolete now except in internet technology circles.

Slang definitions & phrases for grok

grok

verb
  1. To communicate sympathetically: all rapping and grokking over the sound it made/ All the Romans grokked like Greeks (1961+ Counterculture & students)
  2. (also grok on) To get into exquisite sympathy with: She met him at an acid-rock ball and she grokked him/ The Handbook of Highway Engineering, they totally grokked on it (1961+ Counterculture & students)
  3. To understand: You've come to grok that Cronenberg's narrative is merely the pretense for his imagery (1980s+ Computer)

[coined by Robert A Heinlein as a Martian word in the 1961 science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land]


grok in Technology


/grok/, /grohk/ (From the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with")
1. To understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge.
Contrast zen, which is similar supernal understanding experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark.
2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. "Almost all C compilers grok the "void" type these days."
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)