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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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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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:
Last month marked a grim milestone: the combined volume of both reservoirs hit their lowest level since 1957, when Glen Canyon Dam was still under construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
That came after an unsuccessful challenge by Andy Pages in the fourth, and his track record on those inquiries is grim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
What is strange is the air of grim discovery around it, as though the pleasures of cooking with recognizable ingredients had only recently been recovered from a hostile laboratory.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
The situation is especially grim in Oregon, which is on track to record its worst-ever fire season.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do—if “pleased” could be used in connection with so grim an interest.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
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
That’s a turnaround from their much grimmer forecasts last fall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
But as bad as the disruptions and damage to public schools will be, Mahmoud will be infamous for grimmer reasons.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2025
The numbers are even grimmer for low-income students and students of color: Only 23% of low-income children, 27% of Black children and 32% of Hispanic children were reading at grade level.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
It was quicker and grimmer than any smile he’d seen before.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
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
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.
