grievance

American  

[gree-vuhns] / ˈgri vəns /

noun

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.

---

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

---

grievance Idioms  

1. see air one's grievances.

---

Other Word Forms

• pregrievance noun

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”; 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

For others the trigger is grievance, isolation or personal instability, which gradually hardens inside online echo chambers, where resentment circulates freely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

Contract negotiations, which began in September, have focused on the use of artificial intelligence, pay raises and “basic protections” including grievance procedures.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026

One particularly confounding and repeated grievance is the film’s title.

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2026

The internal grievance investigation concluded that she had experienced harassment but found that it did not amount to unlawful discrimination.

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026

Not in half a thousand years have they forgotten their grievance that the lords of Gondor gave the Mark to Eorl the Young and made alliance with him.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Related Words

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