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# graft

noun (graft, grafts — for plants and skin; graft, uncountable — work, corruption); verb (graft, grafts, grafted, grafting)

«graft» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A graft is a piece of skin, bone or other body tissue moved by a surgeon to repair another part of the body. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#m1)
2. A graft is also a cut piece of a plant joined onto another plant so they grow together. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#m2)
3. (UK, Australia, informal) Graft is hard work. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#m3)
4. (US) Graft is dishonest use of power to get money, like a bribe. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#m4)
5. As a verb, to graft means to join a plant or tissue onto another, or (UK informal) to work hard. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#m5)

### In the lessons

In science, grafting lets gardeners grow a tasty apple branch on a strong root; most fruit trees are grafted. In medicine, a skin graft helps burns heal. In UK and Australian everyday talk, «hard graft» praises someone's effort. In US news, graft means corruption by officials.

### Examples

- The surgeon used a skin graft to cover the burn. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x1)
- Grandad grafted a pear branch onto the old tree. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x2)
- Most apple trees are grown by grafting. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x3)
- (UK) It took a lot of hard graft to build the shed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x4)
- (UK) He's a real grafter; he never stops working. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x5)
- (US) The mayor went to prison for graft. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x6)
- (Australia) Winning the cup took years of graft. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x7)
- The bone graft helped her broken leg heal. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/#x8)

### Note

Be careful: in British and Australian English «graft» is a good thing (hard work), but in American English it is a bad thing (corruption). A person who works hard is a «grafter» (UK).

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «graft» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/graft/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«graft» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/graft.html) on Mova free.