grateful
- Feeling or showing thanks to someone who has helped you or done something kind.
In a sentence
- She was grateful to her neighbor for picking up her mail while she was on vacation.
- After the long drought, the farmers were grateful for the rain.
Usage note. Do not confuse 'grateful' with 'gratified' (which means pleased or satisfied); also, the common misspelling 'greatful' is incorrect — it comes from 'grate,' not 'great.'
Where it comes from
English grateful · entered English 16th c.
From the now-obsolete English adjective 'grate,' meaning pleasing or thankful, which came from Latin 'gratus' (pleasing, thankful). The suffix '-ful' was added in the 16th century; 'gratus' is also the root of 'gratitude' and 'grace.'