grist for the mill

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Information used to support or fuel a particular argument or situation

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

thông tin dùng để hỗ trợ hoặc thúc đẩy một lập luận hoặc tình huống

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: grain for the mill to grind
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The scandal provided grist for the mill of the opposition party

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “grist for the mill” mean?

Information used to support or fuel a particular argument or situation Literally: grain for the mill to grind

Is “grist for the mill” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.