granular

English

Etymology

From Late Latin grānulum (“granule, little grain”), diminutive of Latin grānum (“grain, seed”), + -ar. By surface analysis, granule +‎ -ar. Compare French granulaire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæn.jə.lə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæn.jə.lɚ/, (/æ/ raising) [ˈɡɹɛən.jə.lɚ]

  • Audio (Midwestern US):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæn.jə.lə(ɹ)/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɛn.jə.lə(ɹ)/

Adjective

granular (comparative more granular, superlative most granular)

1. Consisting of, or resembling, granules or grains.

   a granular substance

2. Grainy.

   It has a granular structure

   • 1790, Abraham Mills, Some Strata in Ireland and Scotland, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 80

     This Whyn Dyke is bare at the cliffs ſeveral yards in height, and is near nine feet in width. It conſiſts of an inner part of a granular and ſomewhat porous texture...

3. (transferred sense) Refined or precise.

   This should allow for a more granular degree of control

Usage notes

• It is common to speak of things being "more granular" or "less granular", but this is potentially confusing: something "granular" is composed of small, discrete entities as opposed to being continuous, which is primarily a binary distinction, not a matter of degree. Moreover, it is unclear if "more granular" and "less granular" indicate finer or coarser granularity. For example, granular sugar is so called because it consists of relatively large grains, in contrast with powdered sugar, so "more granular" sugar might be coarser, like a grainier or "more granular" photograph with larger and thus more visible grains. In other cases, "more granular" indicates finer, more plentiful grains or divisions. For clarity, one can refer specifically to finer or coarser granularity. In the superlative, one may refer to finest or coarsest granularity.

Synonyms

• granulous; see also Thesaurus:granular

Coordinate terms

• particulate (adjective)

Derived terms

• agranular
• dysgranular
• equigranular
• extragranular
• fibrogranular
• granular cell tumor
• granular cheese
• granularisation
• granularise
• granularity
• granularization
• granularize
• granularly
• hypergranular
• infragranular
• intergranular
• intragranular
• juxtagranular
• macrogranular
• mesogranular
• microgranular
• monogranular
• multigranular
• nanogranular
• nongranular
• perigranular
• polygranular
• pregranular
• reticulogranular
• semigranular
• subgranular
• supergranular
• supragranular
• transgranular

Related terms

• coarse-grained
• fine-grained
• grain, granulate, granulation, granule

Translations

consisting of, or resembling, grains

• Bulgarian: зърнист (zărnist), гранулиран (bg) (granuliran)
• Catalan: granular (ca)
• Finnish: rakeinen (fi)
• French: granuleux (fr), granulaire (fr)
• Galician: granular (gl), granuloso
• German: körnig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: χονδρός (khondrós)

• Hungarian: szemcsés (hu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: danikî

• Māori: one (mi)
• Polish: ziarnisty (pl)
• Russian: зернистый (ru) (zernistyj)
• Spanish: granuloso (es)
• Swedish: grynig (sv)
• Ukrainian: зерни́стий (zernýstyj), гранульо́ваний (hranulʹóvanyj)

References

• “granular”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “granular”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “granular”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Catalan

Etymology 1

From grànul +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [ɡɾə.nuˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [ɡɾa.nuˈlar]

Adjective

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulars)

1. granular

Etymology 2

From grànul +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [ɡɾa.nuˈla]

Verb

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulí, past participle granulat)

1. (transitive) to granulate

Conjugation

    Central Catalan conjugation of granular (first conjugation)

infinitive			granular
gerund			granulant
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		granulat		granulada
		plural		granulats		granulades
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	granulo	granules	granula	granulem	granuleu	granulen
	imperfect	granulava	granulaves	granulava	granulàvem	granulàveu	granulaven
	future	granularé	granularàs	granularà	granularem	granulareu	granularan
	preterite	granulí	granulares	granulà	granulàrem	granulàreu	granularen
	conditional	granularia	granularies	granularia	granularíem	granularíeu	granularien
subjunctive		jo	tu	ell/ella vostè	nosaltres nós	vosaltres vós	ells/elles vostès
	present	granuli	granulis	granuli	granulem	granuleu	granulin
	imperfect	granulés	granulessis	granulés	granuléssim	granuléssiu	granulessin
imperative		—	tu	vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres vós	vostès
	affirmative	—	granula	granuli	granulem	granuleu	granulin
	negative (no)	—	no granulis	no granuli	no granulem	no granuleu	no granulin

Further reading

• “granular”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Interlingua

Adjective

granular (not comparable)

1. granular (in the shape of grains)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French granulaire.

Adjective

granular m or n (feminine singular granulară, masculine plural granulari, feminine/neuter plural granulare)

1. granular

Declension

Declension of granular

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	granular		granulară	granulari	granulare
	definite	granularul		granulara	granularii	granularele
genitive- dative	indefinite	granular		granulare	granulari	granulare
	definite	granularului		granularei	granularilor	granularelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɾanuˈlaɾ/ [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: gra‧nu‧lar

Adjective

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulares)

1. granular

   Synonym: granuloso

Verb

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulé, past participle granulado)

1. (transitive) to granulate

Conjugation

    Conjugation of granular (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			granular
gerund			granulando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		granulado		granulada
		plural		granulados		granuladas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	granulo	granulastú granulásvos	granula	granulamos	granuláis	granulan
	imperfect	granulaba	granulabas	granulaba	granulábamos	granulabais	granulaban
	preterite	granulé	granulaste	granuló	granulamos	granulasteis	granularon
	future	granularé	granularás	granulará	granularemos	granularéis	granularán
	conditional	granularía	granularías	granularía	granularíamos	granularíais	granularían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	granule	granulestú granulésvos2	granule	granulemos	granuléis	granulen
	imperfect (ra)	granulara	granularas	granulara	granuláramos	granularais	granularan
	imperfect (se)	granulase	granulases	granulase	granulásemos	granulaseis	granulasen
	future1	granulare	granulares	granulare	granuláremos	granulareis	granularen
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		granulatú granulávos	granule	granulemos	granulad	granulen
	negative		no granules	no granule	no granulemos	no granuléis	no granulen

¹Rare; now chiefly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tuteo-form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of granular

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive granular	dative	granularme	granularte	granularle, granularse	granularnos	granularos	granularles, granularse
	accusative	granularme	granularte	granularlo, granularla, granularse	granularnos	granularos	granularlos, granularlas, granularse
with gerund granulando	dative	granulándome	granulándote	granulándole, granulándose	granulándonos	granulándoos	granulándoles, granulándose
	accusative	granulándome	granulándote	granulándolo, granulándola, granulándose	granulándonos	granulándoos	granulándolos, granulándolas, granulándose
with informal second-person singular tuteo imperative granula	dative	granúlame	granúlate	granúlale	granúlanos	not used	granúlales
	accusative	granúlame	granúlate	granúlalo, granúlala	granúlanos	not used	granúlalos, granúlalas
with informal second-person singular voseo imperative granulá	dative	granulame	granulate	granulale	granulanos	not used	granulales
	accusative	granulame	granulate	granulalo, granulala	granulanos	not used	granulalos, granulalas
with formal second-person singular imperative granule	dative	granúleme	not used	granúlele, granúlese	granúlenos	not used	granúleles
	accusative	granúleme	not used	granúlelo, granúlela, granúlese	granúlenos	not used	granúlelos, granúlelas
with first-person plural imperative granulemos	dative	not used	granulémoste	granulémosle	granulémonos	granulémoos	granulémosles
	accusative	not used	granulémoste	granulémoslo, granulémosla	granulémonos	granulémoos	granulémoslos, granulémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative granulad	dative	granuladme	not used	granuladle	granuladnos	granulaos	granuladles
	accusative	granuladme	not used	granuladlo, granuladla	granuladnos	granulaos	granuladlos, granuladlas
with formal second-person plural imperative granulen	dative	granúlenme	not used	granúlenle	granúlennos	not used	granúlenles, granúlense
	accusative	granúlenme	not used	granúlenlo, granúlenla	granúlennos	not used	granúlenlos, granúlenlas, granúlense

Further reading

• “granular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025