GRIEF DEFINITIONS - 14 definitions found
grief 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] grief ɡri:f See: COME TO GRIEF, GOOD GRIEF, GOOD NIGHT(2) or GOOD GRIEF. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) grief 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 English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary grief (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] English Explanatory Dictionary grief ɡri:f n. 1 deep or intense sorrow or mourning. 2 the cause of this. øcome to grief meet with disaster; fail. good (or great) grief! an exclamation of surprise, alarm, etc. [ME f. AF gref, OF grief f. grever GRIEVE(1)] English-Old English dictionary grief GRIEF Every one can master grief, but he that has it. Much Ado about Nothing, Act iii. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE. The grief that does not speak Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break. Macbeth, Act iv. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE. No words suffice the secret soul to show, For truth denies all eloquence to woe. The Corsair, Canto III. LORD BYRON. No greater grief than to remember days Of joy when misery is at hand. Inferno, Canto V. DANTE. I am not mad;--I would to heaven I were! For then, 'tis like I should forget myself; O, if I could, what grief I should forget! King John, Act iii. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE. Not to the grave, not to the grave, my soul, Follow thy friend beloved! But in the lonely hour, But in the evening walk, Think that he accompanies thy solitude; Think that he holds with thee Mysterious intercourse: And though remembrance wake a tear, There will be joy in grief. The Dead Friend. R. SOUTHEY. HABIT. Habit with him was all the test of truth; "It must be right: I've done it from my youth." The Borough, Letter III. G. CRABBE. How use doth breed a habit in a man! This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled town. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act v. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE. Hackneyed in business, wearied at that oar, Which thousands, once fast chained to, quit no more. Retirement. W. COWPER. Small habits, well pursued betimes, May reach the dignity of crimes. Florio, Pt. I. HANNAH MORE. Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. Metamorphoses, Bk. XV. OVID. Translation of DRYDEN. Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations Grief My grief lies onward and my joy behind. SHAKESPEARE: Sonnet 50. What's gone, and what's past help, Should be past grief. SHAKESPEARE: Wint. Tale, Act iii., Sc. 2. What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? MILTON: Comus, Line 362. O brothers! let us leave the shame and sin Of taking vainly, in a plaintive mood, The holy name of GRIEF!--holy herein, That, by the grief of ONE, came all our good. MRS. BROWNING: Sonnets, Exaggeration. In all the silent manliness of grief. GOLDSMITH: Des. Village, Line 384. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 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. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms grief 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. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) grief ɡri:f n. 1 anguish, suffering, agony, misery, wretchedness, pain, hurt, sadness, sorrow, dejection, depression, despondency, melancholy, unhappiness, woe, torment, desolation, heartbreak, remorse, regret, ruth, heartache: Nothing equalled the grief I felt at the death of my dog, Whiffler. 2 distress, trouble, difficulty, tribulation, trial, burden, load, onus, ordeal, travail, affliction, worry, bitterness, curse; adversity, misfortune, evil days, bad or ill fortune or luck, calamity, disaster, catastrophe, trauma: The death of her only child was a lasting grief to Millie. 3 come to grief. fail, go to rack and ruin, meet with disaster, miscarry, fall or come apart, Colloq come unstuck: Our plans for retirement came to grief when my husband went bankrupt. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 153 Moby Thesaurus words for "grief": 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 |
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