grudge
Americannoun
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grudges
plural
adjective
verb (used with object)
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grudges,
present (3rd person singular)
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grudged,
past participle, past
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grudging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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grudges,
present (3rd person singular)
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grudged,
past participle, past
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grudging
present participle
noun
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a persistent feeling of resentment, esp one due to some cause, such as an insult or injury
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(modifier) planned or carried out in order to settle a grudge
a grudge fight
verb
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(tr) to give or allow unwillingly
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to feel resentful or envious about (someone else's success, possessions, etc)
Usage
What does grudge mean? A grudge is a feeling of anger, bitterness, or resentment toward someone for something they did, especially a wrong that you think they committed against you. The word grudge is typically used to refer to such a feeling when it has been held for a long period of time—often longer than is considered normal. For that reason, grudge is often used in phrases like hold a grudge, nurse a grudge, bear a grudge, and harbor a grudge. Grudges are usually directed toward people, but a person can hold a grudge against a group or an entity like a company or organization. The word grudge is often followed by the word against and whom or what the grudge is directed toward, as in Your father still holds a grudge against that pizzeria for getting his order wrong that one time. A grudge match is a competition, such as a boxing match, between opponents who have (or are depicted as having) some specific, personal reason for being bitter rivals. Less commonly, grudge can be used as a verb meaning to resent or envy someone else’s good fortune, as in Don’t grudge them for their success. The related verb begrudge can be used to mean the same thing. Grudge can also mean to give or allow with reluctance or unwillingness, as in My company has grudged me every raise I have requested. The verb begrudge doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as this sense of grudge. Specifically, begrudge often means to be reluctant to give or allow—as opposed to meaning to give or allow reluctantly. Example: She has held a grudge against me ever since I beat her in the spelling bee in fifth grade.
Synonym Usage
Grudge, malice, spite refer to ill will held against another or others. A grudge is a feeling of resentment harbored because of some real or fancied wrong: to hold a grudge because of jealousy; She has a grudge against him. Malice is the state of mind that delights in doing harm, or seeing harm done, to others, whether expressing itself in an attempt seriously to injure or merely in sardonic humor: malice in watching someone's embarrassment; to tell lies about someone out of malice. Spite is petty, and often sudden, resentment that manifests itself usually in trifling retaliations: to reveal a secret out of spite.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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grudgesimple
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grudgessimple
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have grudgedperfect
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has grudgedperfect
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am grudgingprogressive
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are grudgingprogressive
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is grudgingprogressive
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have been grudgingperfect progressive
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has been grudgingperfect progressive
Past
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grudgedsimple
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had grudgedperfect
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was grudgingprogressive
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were grudgingprogressive
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had been grudgingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grudge
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English grudgen, gruggen, variant of gruchen, from Old French gro(u)c(h)ier, from Germanic; compare Middle High German grogezen “to complain, cry out”
Explanation
If you tend to hold a grudge, you don't let it go when you feel someone's insulted or wronged you. I hope you won't hold a grudge against me for bringing it up. Grudge comes from the now dead Middle English word "grutch," which meant "to complain or grumble." Someone who bears a grudge might often be grouchy. You can specify a type of grudge: political grudge, personal grudge, etc. You know Grandpa's been holding a grudge against the neighbors for years, but you have to wonder: How long can he hold that shotgun?
Vocabulary lists containing grudge
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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This Week in Words: April 1 - 6, 2018
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
Frederick T. Greene, a Journal subscriber since 1983, suggested that college basketball was the true home of the world’s leading grudge match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
With just five meetings at the World Cup all-time, it doesn’t boast the long history of legendary grudge matches like Yankees vs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The U.S. doesn’t hold a grudge against those who renounce citizenship.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
“She holds a grudge like nobody’s business,” David Farmer, the Maine Democratic strategist and columnist, told me.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
Colonel Cathcart had nursed an implacable grudge against Major Major for a long time.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
As for Cornyn, perhaps Trump still harbors grudges for various heresies over the years.
From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2026
He told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme: "These are both individuals who have strong and clear opinions, but who do not bear grudges."
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
Despite their distance and grudges, all three bands agree to put their differences aside for a special live memorial concert in tribute to Irving.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026
Homer’s “The Odyssey” follows Odysseus, a Greek king trying to get home after the Trojan War, a journey interrupted by Cyclopes, sirens, shipwrecks and gods with grudges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026
I blame this stupid flat brown hair on my father, but otherwise I don’t hold any grudges against him.
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
Already during a visit to United States in 1906, he voiced his esteem for Black Americans struggling to live dignified lives within “a civilization they are grudged and denied.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2021
“There will be some grudging specifics about medical personnel in attendance,” grudged Jan Moir in the Daily Mail, “bouncing baby weight and the actual date of birth – then the shutters will slam down.”
From The Guardian ● Apr. 18, 2019
Yet on the balance of play, few could have grudged St Mirren a replay; they harried and hassled Celtic, with Lee Mair passing up a glorious stoppage time chance to claim a draw.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 2, 2013
No one ever grudged these small, valet-style acts, but in the past couple of years Secret Service agents have been pressed into performing quite different chores.
From Time Magazine Archive
Not that I grudged him any of this.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
It’s a connection, a Gazan journalist said, that Witkoff also made with Hamas leaders, being in the unlucky “club of parents who have lost children,” and, this person said, it won him their grudging respect.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
The strikes have drawn grudging recognition from Russian military analysts.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
By the end of World War II, Churchill would admit a grudging respect for Eisenhower, recognizing that he had “a great creative, constructive and combining genius.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
But there was a sense, a grudging willingness among these Labour voters to give Sir Keir and the government more time.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2025
I stuck my long-handled brush in the bucket and made a few grudging passes at the thatch, then paused and looked out over the plain of red-tiled roofs below me.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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.
