grimly

[grim-lee]

adverb

1. in a stern, sinister, fierce, or forbidding way.

   The mood has turned bleak here as the populace prepares grimly for a period of prolonged hardship and, they fear, war.

   For many years, art was forbidden in the country unless it was grimly, dully figurative or a gaudy mural glorifying the dictator’s regime.

Word History and Origins

Origin of grimly¹

First recorded before 1000; grim ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )

Example Sentences

The production is somewhat hampered by Anthony Tran’s cumbersome costumes and Chin’s grimly rational scenic design.

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As one of the good guys grimly puts it, mounting a rebellion means resigning oneself to accepting loss after loss after loss until you finally pull out a victory.

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As horrible as this is to witness, the situation also grimly verges on parody.

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Adra hopes in vain that the mainstream media will report on these indignities, then has a visiting journalist talk grimly about once doing such a piece: People “paid attention to that for 10 minutes.”

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The election result on Nov. 5 — just about 100 days after Harris’ overnight transformation — left Smith feeling sadly, grimly vindicated.

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Related Words

• brutally www.thesaurus.com
• firmly 
• powerfully www.thesaurus.com