grievance

[gree-vuhns]

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

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• pregrievance noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grievance¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of grievance¹

C15 grevance, from Old French, from grever to _grieve ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see air one's grievances.

Example Sentences

Sir Keir said social media had created "a sort of industrialised culture of grievance, and entire world - not just a world view - created through our devices" that was "demonstrably untrue".

From BBC

During a speech announcing a new digital ID scheme, the prime minister said the "defining political choice of our times" would be between the centre-left and the "politics of predatory grievance".

From BBC

"This is the defining political choice of our times: a politics of predatory grievance, preying on the problems of working people… against the politics of patriotic renewal," Sir Keir Starmer will claim.

From BBC

The woman who complained about his manner of sitting brought her grievances to the conductor, who phoned police and stopped the train, he wrote.

From Los Angeles Times

Always a sour type who liked to whine that he had always been treated unfairly, he nurtured a long list of grievances against a long list of perceived enemies.

From Salon

Related Words

• grief 
• hardship 
• injustice 
• objection 
• outrage 
• resentment 
• sorrow 
• unhappiness www.thesaurus.com