grievous
Americanadjective
-
causing grief or great sorrow.
grievous news.
- Synonyms:
- painful, sorrowful, sad, tragic, heartbreaking
- Antonyms:
- delightful
-
full of or expressing grief; sorrowful.
a grievous cry.
-
characterized by great pain or suffering; severe.
grievous bodily harm;
a grievous injury.
-
having serious effects; grave.
a grievous mistake;
grievous faults.
-
extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, brutal, etc.; atrocious.
a grievous offense against morality;
grievous crimes.
-
to incur grievous expenses.
adjective
-
very severe or painful
a grievous injury
-
very serious; heinous
a grievous sin
-
showing or marked by grief
a grievous cry
-
causing great pain or suffering
a grievous attack
Other Word Forms
- grievously adverb
- grievousness noun
- nongrievous adjective
- nongrievousness noun
- overgrievous adjective
- overgrievousness noun
Etymology
Origin of grievous
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English grevous, from Old French grevo(u)s; grieve, -ous
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.
Whatever its actual length, there is no doubting the war’s traumatic impact upon France, where swaths of countryside were depopulated for decades, or the grievous toll upon combatants and civilians alike.
Americans shouldn’t have to live any longer with such a possibility of grievous disturbance.
For Iran, Russia and China, “losing a partner in the Western Hemisphere is a blow, but not a grievous one,” said Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, an advisory firm.
Aside from medical ailments, you may sense that long-ago unresolved issues — ruptured relationships, grievous losses, life-altering decisions — undermine your well-being in subtle but significant ways.
From MarketWatch
In a statement released to the Baltimore Banner news site, “Wire” creator David Simon called Ransone’s death “grievous and awful.”
From Los Angeles Times
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.
