Adjacent Words

Grief definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GRIEF ,n. [L. gravis.]
1. The pain of mind produced by loss, misfortune, injury or evils of any kind; sorrow; regret. We experience grief when we lose a friend, when we incur loss, when we consider ourselves injured, and by sympathy, we feel grief at the misfortunes of others.
2. The pain of mind occasioned by our own misconduct; sorrow or regret that we have done wrong; pain accompanying repentance. We feel grief when we have offended or injured a friend, and the consciousness of having offended the Supreme Being, fills the penitent heart with the most poignant grief.
3. Cause of sorrow; that which afflicts.
Who were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26.
A foolish son is a grief to his father. Proverbs 17.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: intense sorrow caused by loss of a loved one (especially by death) [syn: grief, heartache, heartbreak, brokenheartedness]
2: something that causes great unhappiness; "her death was a great grief to John" [syn: grief, sorrow]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English gref, from Anglo-French gref, grief injustice, calamity, from gref, adjective heavy, grievous, from Vulgar Latin *grevis, alteration of Latin gravis Date: 15th century 1. obsolete grievance 3 2. a. deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement b. a cause of such suffering 3. a. an unfortunate outcome ; disaster — used chiefly in the phrase come to grief b. mishap, misadventure c. trouble, annoyance <enough grief for one day> d. annoying or playful criticism <getting grief from his friends> Synonyms: see sorrow

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 deep or intense sorrow or mourning. 2 the cause of this. Phrases and idioms: come to grief meet with disaster; fail. good (or great) grief! an exclamation of surprise, alarm, etc. Etymology: ME f. AF gref, OF grief f. grever GRIEVE(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Grief Grief (gr[=e]f), n. [OE. grief, gref, OF. grief, gref, F. grief, L. gravis heavy; akin to Gr. bary`s, Skr. guru, Goth. ka['u]rus. Cf. Barometer, Grave, a., Grieve, Gooroo.] 1. Pain of mind on account of something in the past; mental suffering arising from any cause, as misfortune, loss of friends, misconduct of one's self or others, etc.; sorrow; sadness. The mother was so afflicted at the loss of a fine boy, . . . that she died for grief of it. --Addison. 2. Cause of sorrow or pain; that which afficts or distresses; trial; grievance. Be factious for redress of all these griefs. --Shak. 3. Physical pain, or a cause of it; malady. [R.] This grief (cancerous ulcers) hastened the end of that famous mathematician, Mr. Harriot. --Wood. To come to grief, to meet with calamity, accident, defeat, ruin, etc., causing grief; to turn out badly. [Colloq.] Syn: Affiction; sorrow; distress; sadness; trial; grievance. Usage: Grief, Sorrow, Sadness. Sorrow is the generic term; grief is sorrow for some definite cause -- one which commenced, at least, in the past; sadness is applied to a permanent mood of the mind. Sorrow is transient in many cases; but the grief of a mother for the loss of a favorite child too often turns into habitual sadness. ``Grief is sometimes considered as synonymous with sorrow; and in this case we speak of the transports of grief. At other times it expresses more silent, deep, and painful affections, such as are inspired by domestic calamities, particularly by the loss of friends and relatives, or by the distress, either of body or mind, experienced by those whom we love and value.'' --Cogan. See Affliction.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(griefs) 1. Grief is a feeling of extreme sadness. ...a huge outpouring of national grief for the victims of the shootings... Their grief soon gave way to anger. N-VAR 2. If something comes to grief, it fails. If someone comes to grief, they fail in something they are doing, and may be hurt. So many marriages have come to grief over lack of money... He was driving a Mercedes racer at 100 mph and almost came to grief. PHRASE: V inflects 3. Some people say 'Good grief' when they are surprised or shocked. 'He's been arrested for theft and burglary.'—'Good grief!' EXCLAM [feelings]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Sorrow, regret, affliction, distress, tribulation, woe, dole, sadness, bitterness, anguish, misery, agony, heartache, heartbreak, heavy heart, bleeding heart, broken heart, pain of mind, mental suffering. 2. Trial, grievance, cause of sorrow, sorrow, affliction, distress, woe.

Moby Thesaurus

accident, ache, aching, aching heart, adversity, affliction, agony, agony of mind, anguish, apologies, attrition, ayenbite of inwit, bale, bemoaning, bewailing, bitterness, bleakness, bleeding heart, blow, broken heart, burden, calamity, care, carking care, casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, cheerlessness, collision, come apart, come to grief, come unstuck, comfortlessness, contretemps, contriteness, contrition, crack-up, cramp, crash, crushing, curse, cut, dejection, depression, depth of misery, desolation, despair, despondency, difficulty, disaster, discomfort, dismalness, distress, distressfulness, dole, dolor, dreariness, extremity, fail, grievousness, heartache, heartbreak, heartfelt grief, heartgrief, heavy heart, hurt, ill hap, infelicity, injury, joylessness, lamentability, lamentation, lamenting, languishment, lesion, load, melancholia, melancholy, misadventure, miscarry, mischance, misery, misfortune, mishap, mournfulness, nasty blow, onus, ordeal, pain, painfulness, pang, passion, pathos, pileup, pining, pitiability, pitiableness, pitifulness, poignancy, prostration, regret, regretfulness, regrets, regrettableness, regretting, remorse, remorse of conscience, remorsefulness, repining, rue, ruth, sadness, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shamefulness, sharpness, shipwreck, shock, smash, smashup, sore, sore spot, sorriness, sorrow, sorrowfulness, sorrowing, spasm, staggering blow, stress, stress of life, stroke, suffering, suicidal despair, tender spot, throes, torment, tragedy, trauma, travail, trial, tribulation, trouble, unhappiness, wistfulness, woe, woebegoneness, woefulness, worry, wound, wreck, wrench, wretchedness