grieve
Americanverb (used without object)
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grieves,
present (3rd person singular)
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grieved,
past participle, past
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grieving
present participle
verb
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to feel or cause to feel great sorrow or distress, esp at the death of someone
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obsolete (tr) to inflict injury, hardship, or sorrow on
noun
Usage
What does grieve mean? To grieve is to feel or express intense grief—mental or emotional suffering or distress caused by loss or regret. Grieve often means the same thing as mourn. It’s especially used in the context of someone who is mourning the death of a loved one. However, the word can also be used in the context of other situations involving loss or regret, such as the end of a relationship or the loss of a job. Less commonly, grieve can mean to cause someone to feel grief, as in It grieves me to see you so sad. Grieve should not be confused with bereave, which means to take away and leave devastated. Those who are grieving are those who have been bereaved. Example: After losing someone close, it’s important to take the time to grieve.
Synonym Usage
Grieve, mourn imply showing suffering caused by sorrow. Grieve is the stronger word, implying deep mental suffering often endured alone and in silence but revealed by one's aspect: to grieve over the loss (or death ) of a friend. Mourn usually refers to manifesting sorrow outwardly, either with or without sincerity: to mourn publicly and wear black.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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grievernoun
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grievingnoun
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overgrieveverb
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nongrievedadjective
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nongrievingadjective
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ungrievedadjective
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ungrievingadjective
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grievedlyadverb
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grievinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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grievesimple
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grievessimple
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have grievedperfect
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has grievedperfect
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am grievingprogressive
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are grievingprogressive
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is grievingprogressive
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have been grievingperfect progressive
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has been grievingperfect progressive
Past
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grievedsimple
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had grievedperfect
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was grievingprogressive
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were grievingprogressive
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had been grievingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grieve
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English greven, grieven, from Old French grever, from Latin gravāre “to burden,” verb derivative of gravis “heavy”; see grave 2
Explanation
To grieve is to feel sorrow over something, especially people who have died. The most common use of grieve has to do with death: usually there are grieving family members and grieving friends, feeling sadness over the loss of a loved one. You can also grieve over a pet who died, a job you didn't get, or a favorite pair of shoes that were ruined. Usually there's some kind of loss involved, but as long as you feel extremely sad about something that's happened, you're grieving.
Vocabulary lists containing grieve
Instead of "Said": Words For Sad Speech
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Good Grief!: Grav, Griev
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Bush's Address on 9/11
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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:
We ask that our family’s privacy be respected as we grieve.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
For almost a quarter of a century her family have been left without answers, unable to grieve properly or even hold a funeral.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
As for those who grieve them, “they understand why all this happened.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
But permit me, as a lifelong MMA fan, to grieve a bit for my favorite sport: the only one I’ve ever truly loved.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
She summons one stone and clings to it, a drowning woman, then summons another and another until she cries, “Mami, I grieve in my dreams.”
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Madonna grieves for her late brother Christopher on Fragile, a delicate song about their childhood, estrangement and reconciliation, that ends with her wishing, "I hope you found a higher ground".
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Heaney grieves the violence, memorializing its complexity and horror in a poem that can stand with Yeats and Auden.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Or when the child has a disability and the parent grieves the vision of the child that they thought they were gonna have.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2025
As time passes, she is trying to build a new life, learn a new language and find bits of work here and there - but she still grieves her lost home in Vuhledar.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
“Madam, it grieves me to go,” he said.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
“Grown-ups gave me positive attention when—as an actor—I failed, got sick, screamed and cried, killed, grieved and suffered,” she wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
He has also grieved his mother Florence who died in December, speaking at her funeral in Nigeria and, by arrangement with the national team, joined up late with his team-mates before the Six Nations.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Jefferson grieved deeply over the loss of his wife, the death in childhood of four of their six children, and the later loss of a daughter at only 25.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, who is from Milan, said he was "grieved" by the accident and called for answers.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
“You will be grieved to hear that Mrs. Westenra died five days ago, and that Lucy died the day before yesterday. They were both buried to-day.”
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Twenty-five years on from the deadliest terror attack in history, Jane McMullen asks why thousands of grieving families are still fighting for answers.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
It can’t be an exaggeration to say that tens of millions are grieving her death.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
"You speak to people who are grieving, you're like, 'How are you doing?' They're like, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, you know, it's hard, but I'm fine.' It feels very unhealthily British."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
“Something has happened and I believe in his own way he is going to be grieving and I feel so sad for him,” said North Carolina’s Wendi Cornett.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
It was the respectful way he sat with the grieving when he was on duty at funerals.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
