grim
Americanadjective
-
stern and admitting of no appeasement or compromise.
grim determination; grim necessity.
- Synonyms:
- unyielding, harsh
- Antonyms:
- lenient
-
of a sinister or ghastly character.
a grim joke.
- Antonyms:
- attractive
-
having a harsh, surly, forbidding, or morbid air.
a grim man but a just one; a grim countenance.
- Antonyms:
- gentle
-
fierce, savage, or cruel.
War is a grim business.
-
unpleasant or repellant.
Scrubbing toilets is a grim task that no one likes doing.
adjective
-
stern; resolute
grim determination
-
harsh or formidable in manner or appearance
-
harshly ironic or sinister
grim laughter
-
cruel, severe, or ghastly
a grim accident
-
archaic fierce
a grim warrior
-
informal unpleasant; disagreeable
-
to hold very firmly or resolutely
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grim
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German grimm, Old Norse grimmr
Explanation
Things that are gloomy, stark, ghastly, and somber are grim. Sunshine, puppies, and rainbows are not grim; zombies, reapers, and mummies are grim. Less scary things like drizzly, foggy days can also be called grim. Two famous uses of the adjective grim are the Grim Reaper and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Mr. Reaper shows up in movies and books wearing a long, hooded black cape and carrying a scythe, or long-handled blade used, in less grim circumstances, for mowing grass and reaping grain: he represents death. The real-life German brothers wrote some bone-chilling tales under their own name, Grimm, meaning "cruel, fierce," which is related to the English word grim. Modern grim things include crime-drama images of dead bodies and characters in horror movies.
Vocabulary lists containing grim
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 4
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More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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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:
Not as a grim exercise in virtue, but because I want the vegetables to be things I actually look forward to eating.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
This year, they ramped up their home display, deploying a grim reaper, a zombie, animal skeletons and Oogie Boogie from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
"It's a pretty grim picture," according to the OBR's David Miles, who says there has been "virtually no growth" for individuals since before the Covid pandemic.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
But in a grim moment last year, he realized he was several thousand dollars short of the roughly $28,000-annual minimum to qualify for healthcare through actors union SAG-AFTRA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Cook’s expression matched Mr. Henry’s, grim and resigned, and Ophie knew right then that she, too, was thinking about Clara.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
Some analysts have an even grimmer assessment of the economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Reports David has heard from clients in Cameroon are even grimmer: the IOM has refused to facilitate medical care for some detainees, the lawyer said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026
Each morning that Venezuelans wake to the aftermath of the dual earthquakes, it is a little darker, a little grimmer.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
She’s hardly in a position to do much more than accept what’s going on as a grimmer version of her own dead-end predicament.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026
And then we went to 7-Building’s opposite, the Special Housing Unit, a two-story structure that housed sixty inmates; it was larger and grimmer than the one at Coxsackie.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
When asked about the economy in surveys, people are reporting one of the grimmest economic moods on record.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
But it is the reported conditions in detention which make the grimmest reading in the committee's conclusions, published today.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
Behind the scenes, his producers eagerly exploited the grimmest episodes of vulnerable people’s lives, never disabusing them of the false assumption that appearing on “Springer” would somehow help them.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
It could be argued that the grimmest portrayals of nuclear war — the opposite of what “Fallout” does — don’t serve anyone better than downplaying the risks and the aftermath of apocalypse.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
Penelope smiled, then beamed, then laughed aloud, for even the grimmest Giddy-Yap, Rainbow! book had joy to spare.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
