grievous
Americanadjective
-
causing grief or great sorrow.
grievous news.
- Synonyms:
- painful, sorrowful, sad, tragic, heartbreaking
- Antonyms:
- delightful
-
full of or expressing grief; sorrowful.
a grievous cry.
-
characterized by great pain or suffering; severe.
grievous bodily harm;
a grievous injury.
-
having serious effects; grave.
a grievous mistake;
grievous faults.
-
extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, brutal, etc.; atrocious.
a grievous offense against morality;
grievous crimes.
-
to incur grievous expenses.
adjective
-
very severe or painful
a grievous injury
-
very serious; heinous
a grievous sin
-
showing or marked by grief
a grievous cry
-
causing great pain or suffering
a grievous attack
Other Word Forms
- grievously adverb
- grievousness noun
- nongrievous adjective
- nongrievousness noun
- overgrievous adjective
- overgrievousness noun
Etymology
Origin of grievous
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English grevous, from Old French grevo(u)s; grieve, -ous
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.
And it delivers a blunt message, warning that this executive order would inflict a grievous, possibly lethal moral harm on the nation.
From Slate • Feb. 27, 2026
Aside from medical ailments, you may sense that long-ago unresolved issues — ruptured relationships, grievous losses, life-altering decisions — undermine your well-being in subtle but significant ways.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 7, 2026
We have suffered a grievous blow, but we will recover.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
Scenes like this are tricky enough to pull off tastefully in dramatized films, but here, the sequence feels impossibly grievous.
From Salon • Oct. 21, 2025
"He will not be with us long, the maesters say. The pain is . . . constant, and grievous."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.