grim
Americanadjective
-
stern and admitting of no appeasement or compromise.
grim determination; grim necessity.
- Synonyms:
- unyielding, harsh
- Antonyms:
- lenient
-
of a sinister or ghastly character.
a grim joke.
- Antonyms:
- attractive
-
having a harsh, surly, forbidding, or morbid air.
a grim man but a just one; a grim countenance.
- Antonyms:
- gentle
-
fierce, savage, or cruel.
War is a grim business.
-
unpleasant or repellant.
Scrubbing toilets is a grim task that no one likes doing.
adjective
-
stern; resolute
grim determination
-
harsh or formidable in manner or appearance
-
harshly ironic or sinister
grim laughter
-
cruel, severe, or ghastly
a grim accident
-
archaic fierce
a grim warrior
-
informal unpleasant; disagreeable
-
to hold very firmly or resolutely
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grim
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German grimm, Old Norse grimmr
Explanation
Things that are gloomy, stark, ghastly, and somber are grim. Sunshine, puppies, and rainbows are not grim; zombies, reapers, and mummies are grim. Less scary things like drizzly, foggy days can also be called grim. Two famous uses of the adjective grim are the Grim Reaper and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Mr. Reaper shows up in movies and books wearing a long, hooded black cape and carrying a scythe, or long-handled blade used, in less grim circumstances, for mowing grass and reaping grain: he represents death. The real-life German brothers wrote some bone-chilling tales under their own name, Grimm, meaning "cruel, fierce," which is related to the English word grim. Modern grim things include crime-drama images of dead bodies and characters in horror movies.
Vocabulary lists containing grim
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And Dieffenbach, who was racking up college offers, was left with a depleted roster and a grim senior season outlook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
“So many people feel that aging is some grim reality, we have to just suck it up,” he said, “but you can have an enormous impact on these things.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Now white haired with a neatly trimmed beard and sunken cheeks, Bakker’s once upbeat delivery and playful repartee with guests had been replaced by a grim figure.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
October has a fearsome reputation for stock-market tumult, largely due to a handful of notoriously grim selloffs.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 4, 2026
“I think they would,” came from under the hat, in a grim tone, quite as touching as a broken one.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Reports David has heard from clients in Cameroon are even grimmer: the IOM has refused to facilitate medical care for some detainees, the lawyer said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
It doesn’t even matter that Balogun’s red card for mashing a Bosnia and Herzegovina opponent’s leg was a bit much—an overreaction to a bang-bang play that looked grimmer in slow-motion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Hopefully the people who come to us for the light, fun, enjoyable take on Westeros will stick with us through some of the harder, trickier, grimmer moments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2026
Other, grimmer recent headlines help to explain why.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
A little of the official atmosphere seemed to have fallen away from him with the Newspeak words, but his expression was grimmer than usual, as though he were not pleased at being disturbed.
From "1984" by George Orwell
The grimmest possibility for the filmmaking community is that Warner would become a production label under Paramount, like the former 20th Century Fox studio has become at Disney.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025
It’s a showdown on the edge of an abyss or, from a blackly comic point of view, the grimmest edition ever of that old surprise-reunion show “This Is Your Life.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2025
Behind the scenes, his producers eagerly exploited the grimmest episodes of vulnerable people’s lives, never disabusing them of the false assumption that appearing on “Springer” would somehow help them.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
For now, however, the grimmest of eventualities may have been avoided—all thanks to a mixture of luck and Icelandic proactivity.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 19, 2023
The grimmest examples of germs’ role in history come from the European conquest of the Americas that began with Columbus’s voyage of 1492.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
