Unwilling or reluctant to give, grant, or acknowledge something; doing something with resentment or ill-will.
From Middle English 'grudgen' (to complain or murmur) plus the present participle suffix '-ing', originally meaning 'complaining' and evolved to mean 'reluctant' or 'given unwillingly'.
A grudging compliment is actually a linguistic paradox—you're giving praise while simultaneously refusing to give it wholeheartedly, which perfectly captures how language lets us express emotional contradictions!
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