grievous

[ gree-vuhs ]

/ ˈgri vəs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grievous ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

causing grief or great sorrow: grievous news.

flagrant; outrageous; atrocious: a grievous offense against morality.

full of or expressing grief; sorrowful: a grievous cry.

burdensome or oppressive.

causing great pain or suffering: arrested for causing grievous bodily harm to someone in a bar.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of grievous

1250–1300; Middle English grevous < Old French grevo(u)s. See grieve, -ous

SYNONYMS FOR grievous

1. distressing, sad, sorrowful, painful. 2. deplorable, lamentable, calamitous, heinous, flagitious, dreadful, shameful, iniquitous.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grievous ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR grievous

1. delightful.

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Related forms

griev·ous·ly, adverbgriev·ous·ness, nounnon·griev·ous, adjectivenon·griev·ous·ly, adverb

non·griev·ous·ness, nouno·ver·griev·ous, adjectiveo·ver·griev·ous·ly, adverbo·ver·griev·ous·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for grievously

If the allegations are false, Cosby has been grievously wronged with his reputation forever tainted.
When Your Comic Hero Is an Alleged Rapist|Doug McIntyre|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And Bill Weasley remains happily married to Fleur Delacour despite being “grievously scarred from an encounter with a werewolf”.
Shock! Harry Potter Has Gray Hair|Tom Sykes|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Want to know why the Tea Party so eager to grievously wound the Republican Party?
How the Tea Party’s Apocalyptic Politics Are Destroying the Republican Party|Joe McLean|November 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Li was sprawled on the kitchen floor with her 5-year-old son, Kevin Zhou, both of them grievously wounded.
Brooklyn Mother, Four Children Allegedly Slain by Jealous Cousin|Michael Daly|October 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST

He was one of the most grievously injured pilots to arrive in Hanoi.
John McCain Pays Tribute to Bud Day|Josh Rogin|July 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I was grievously disappointed at not finding you at Hastings, where I went first, or here at Willard's.
A War-Time Wooing|Charles King
Sir Max saved the life of our host, and in so doing was grievously wounded.
Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy|Charles Major
He threatened me grievously and reviled me, and rated me as though I had been a dog.
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, Volume V|J. H. Merle d'Aubigné
They greeted his promise with murmurs of approbation, but made no answer, for body and soul were grievously tried.
Darkness and Dawn|George Allan England
She found it hard to wink the tears back when she was so deeply, grievously disappointed.
Mary Ware in Texas|Annie F. Johnston

British Dictionary definitions for grievously

grievous

/ (ˈɡriːvəs) /

adjective

very severe or painfula grievous injury

very serious; heinousa grievous sin

showing or marked by griefa grievous cry

causing great pain or sufferinga grievous attack

Derived Formsgrievously, adverbgrievousness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for grievously

grievously

adv.

mid-14c., from grievous + -ly (2).

grievous

adj.

c.1300, from Anglo-French grevous (Old French grevos) "heavy, hard, toilsome," from grief (see grief). Legal term grievous bodily harm attested from 1803.