grief

American  

[greef] / grif /

noun

• griefs
  plural

1. keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.

   Synonyms:

   moroseness, melancholy, sadness, misery, woe, heartache, anguish

   Antonyms:

   joy

2. a cause or occasion of keen distress or sorrow.

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verb (used with or without object)

griefed, griefing

1. Digital Technology.

   1. (in an online video game) to behave in an unsportsmanlike way or take pleasure in antagonizing (other players).

      I reported the jerk who griefed me yesterday—I hope they ban his account.

   2. to exploit a glitch or execute an online prank that ruins a website or other online experience for (users).

      Posting flashing content to an epilepsy site is taking griefing to a malicious and dangerous extreme.

idioms

1. come to grief, to suffer disappointment, misfortune, or other trouble; fail.

   Their marriage came to grief after only two years.

2. good grief, (used as an exclamation of dismay, surprise, or relief ).

   Good grief, it's started to rain again!

grief British  

/ ɡriːf /

noun

1. deep or intense sorrow or distress, esp at the death of someone

2. something that causes keen distress or suffering

3. informal trouble or annoyance

   people were giving me grief for leaving ten minutes early

4. informal to end unsuccessfully or disastrously

5. See tune

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grief More Idioms  

1. see come to grief; good grief.

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Usage

What does grief mean? Grief is mental or emotional suffering or distress caused by loss or regret. It’s especially used to refer to the feeling of sorrow and loss from the death of a loved one. People who are overwhelmed by grief are often described as grief-stricken. This kind of grief is most commonly associated with death, but the word can also be used in the context of other situations involving loss, such as a divorce or the loss of a job. The related verb grieve means to mourn—to feel or express intense grief, especially due to a death or loss. The word grief is also used informally to mean trouble or annoyance, as in Please don’t give your mother any grief when she gets home—her day has been hard enough already. Grief is used in the phrase good grief, which is typically used to express alarm or dismay. Grief is also used in the context of online gaming as a slang term that means something similar to the verb sense of troll—to take pleasure in antagonizing others. Example: I can’t imagine the amount of grief you feel from the loss of your mother.

Synonym Usage

See sorrow.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grieflessness
  noun
• griefless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• griefs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grief

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English gref, grief, from Anglo-French gref; see origin at grieve

Explanation

Grief means intense sorrow. You feel grief if something terribly sad happens, like if your dog dies or if your childhood sweetheart breaks up with you. The word grief comes from the Latin word gravare, which means to make heavy. Gravare itself comes from the Latin word gravis, which means weighty. So think of grief as a heavy, oppressive sadness. We associate it most often with mourning a loved one's death, but it can follow any kind of loss.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grief griefs griefed griefing

The Camino had room for all of us: veterans on their umpteenth Camino, first-timers, and pilgrims carrying very 2026 reasons—burnout, career panic, grief, retirement, faith, escape.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

While Heyward would marvel at how close Freeman was willing to cut it, Freeman would give Heyward grief for how long he’d take to get ready.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

William and Harry were united in grief as children by the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana, but their relationship as adults has been ripped apart by anger and hurt.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Kathleen, a 70-year-old widow who lives in Illinois, says going on the cruises will take the widower out of his bubble and help take his mind off his grief.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

“Twelve years to you is but a day to me,” Nyame responds, grief entwined with his words.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

There are griefs other than antisemitism and racism, she complains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

The conversation ranges from what people think constitutes “a good death” to griefs they carry: old and new, individual and collective.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023

This might be dramatised fiction but the losses and griefs are very real.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2022

“Even in WandaVision — really all of the films I’ve gotten to do — she’s constantly straddling this line and usually her biggest emotive losses or griefs are when something’s born,” Olsen said.

From The Verge ● May 9, 2022

I see my griefs begin to sink below the waves, and I ride the crest in hope.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

I can only say how sincerely I ask pardon for having griefed you.

From The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père

Fake news and misinformation are part of that, as are the traditional griefing techniques of subcultural trolls.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2016

In a blog post after Tay’s griefing, Peter Lee, the vice president of Microsoft Research, vowed to “work toward contributing to an internet that represents the best, not the worst, of humanity.”

From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2016

The practice of ruining things for others, originally known as griefing in the online gaming world, has become a sadly abundant element of internet life.

From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2016

Although Lin's efforts are “admirable and likely industry-leading”, the representative says, many games are still “awash with verbal harassment, griefing and overall negative behaviour from teammates and opponents”.

From Nature ● Mar. 29, 2016

And so their griefing of other players is not necessarily done out of meanness, but more out of a sense of exploration, a way of finding their footing in an uncertain new universe.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 3, 2013

Related Words

• agony
• anguish
• bereavement
• despair
• discomfort
• gloom
• heartache
• heartbreak
• melancholy
• misery
• mourning
• pain
• regret
• remorse
• sadness
• sorrow
• trouble
• unhappiness
• woe
• worry