The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - groundn.

1) earth, soil, turf, sod, dirt, loam, clay; land, terrain: There is a great hole in the ground behind my house. 2) territory, area, range, scope, compass: We covered the ground quite thoroughly at our meeting. 3) Often, grounds. basis, foundation, base, reason, footing, justification, rationale, argument, cause, motive, excuse: What are her grounds for suing for divorce? 4 grounds. sediment, dregs, lees, deposit, settlings, Brit grouts: Filter out the grounds before drinking the coffee. --v. 5) base, establish, organize, found; settle, set: The school's philosophy is grounded on the principles of Maria Montessori. 6) instruct, teach, train, coach, tutor, inform, prepare, initiate: The purpose of the course is to ground students in basic mathematics.