grievance

American  

[gree-vuhns] / ˈgri vəns /

noun

grievances plural

1. a wrong considered as grounds for complaint, or something believed to cause distress.

   Inequitable taxation is the chief grievance.

   Synonyms:

   distress, injury, hurt, injustice, affront

2. a complaint, as against an unjust or unfair act.

   to have a grievance against someone.

3. a feeling or belief that one has been wronged, oppressed, or is the victim of an injustice; resentment.

   The conflict on campus was described as the result of racial grievance or victim culture, depending on who reported it.

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grievance British  

/ ˈɡriːvəns /

noun

1. a real or imaginary wrong causing resentment and regarded as grounds for complaint

2. a feeling of resentment or injustice at having been unfairly treated

3. obsolete affliction or hardship

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grievance Idioms  

1. see air one's grievances.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pregrievance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grievances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of grievance

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English greva(u)nce, greva(u)ns “injury, offense, annoyance,” from Old French grevance “harm, injury, trouble, misfortune”; see origin at grieve, -ance

Explanation

A grievance is a complaint. It can be formal, as when an employee files a grievance because of unsafe working conditions, or more of an emotional matter, like a grievance against an old friend who betrayed you. A grievance is a complaint that may or may not be justified. Often a grievance is a complaint about something that breaks a rule or a law, like a grievance filed against a person who builds a fence in his front yard in a town that does not allow that. If that same neighbor plants flowers he knows make you sneeze uncontrollably, you might be unhappy about that, but this is the kind of grievance you can work out among yourselves.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grievance grievances

More than 300 detainees are estimated to have signed grievance letters sent recently to facility administrators, according to advocates with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Although they've got until 2035 to hit the target, the US president will want proof Europe is addressing his long-standing grievance.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

Conservative Assembly Member Neil Garratt submitted a formal grievance against Polanski last month, suggesting he had breached the Nolan Principles and the GLA code of conduct during his time as a London assembly member.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

There’s quite a bit of grievance history in “This Land.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

“What kind of grievance does your family have to risk an escape?” the officer asked.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

As we talked, a young man approached and told Lopez he’d seen her airing her grievances on TV news.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

"I wanted to air the grievances we had."

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

Gamers took to social media to air their grievances, with one user on X posting “$80 game and can’t even get a disk.”

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

It also highlighted a conflict of interest: Because Mr. Stein staffed both the city department and the union, lifeguards seeking help from the union might find that their managers were the ones handling their grievances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

“Is that a motion to strike the previous two grievances and replace them with reckless use of sympathy?” asked the Chancellor, trying to regain a semblance of formality.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

• grief
• hardship
• injustice
• objection
• outrage
• resentment
• sorrow
• unhappiness