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:
At this time, we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
As fans grieve Jackie, they wonder what’s next for Shadow and the aerie in Big Bear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Sara and I grieve with the American people over the loss of our dear friend, Senator Lindsey Graham.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 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
Perhaps this is the only way to grieve the big things—in snippets, pinches, little sips of sadness.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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
He said the whole town "still grieves greatly".
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2025
“Everyone who grieves has questions,” McKinnon said, “but she had no answers.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024
“It is not my father’s death that grieves me most, but the coldness of my husband.”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Having not swam seriously since he was 18, he only got back into the sport after his father's death to "feel connected to him" as he grieved.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 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
They rebuilt their lives, married, and grieved when they lost loved ones of their own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 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
Yet, although I grieved, it was not for my son: for in my heart I could not have wished it otherwise.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
It can’t be an exaggeration to say that tens of millions are grieving her death.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
"I was still grieving Oscar and now our baby boy Leo was gone too," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
"We've also spoken with the party involved. He understands, but of course, he's also grieving because he also lost his child," Bendijo added.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 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
But he was a teenager himself, grieving and lost in a strange world.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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.
