gravamen

American  

[gruh-vey-muhn] / grəˈveɪ mən /

noun

Law.

• gravamina
  plural

1. the part of an accusation that weighs most heavily against the accused; the substantial part of a charge or complaint.

2. a grievance.

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gravamen British  

/ ɡrəˈveɪmɛn /

noun

1. law that part of an accusation weighing most heavily against an accused

2. law the substance or material grounds of a complaint

3. a rare word for grievance

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gravamina
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gravamen

1595–1605; < Late Latin: trouble, physical inconvenience, equivalent to Latin gravā ( re ) to load, weigh down (derivative of gravis heavy, burdened) + -men noun suffix

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gravamen gravamina

"The gravamen of the claimed wrongdoing is that the Laundries exercised their constitutional rights and essentially made no statements to Plaintiffs or law enforcement," the motion states.

From Fox News ● Mar. 30, 2022

“The conduct constituting the gravamen of Sachs’s suit plainly occurred abroad,’’ Roberts wrote.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2015

What mattered, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, was the core, or gravamen, of the lawsuit.

From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2015

But are hipsters the gravamen here or victims of circumstances, when steady job prospects are remote and social premium is placed on a good coffee high?

From The Guardian ● Sep. 20, 2014

In such a case it cannot be said in a legal sense that the keeping of the animal, which is the gravamen of the offense, produced the injury.'

From Tutt and Mr. Tutt by Arthur Cheney Train

At this council gravamina were adopted which show that constant encroachments were made on the sphere of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

From The English Church in the Middle Ages by William Hunt