GRIEVOUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does grievous mean? 

• GRIEVOUS (adjective)
  The adjective GRIEVOUS has 4 senses:

1. causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

2. causing or marked by grief or anguish

3. of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought

4. shockingly brutal or cruel

  Familiarity information: GRIEVOUS used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRIEVOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm

Synonyms:

dangerous; grave; grievous; life-threatening; serious; severe

Context example:

a life-threatening disease

Similar:

critical (being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Causing or marked by grief or anguish

Synonyms:

grievous; heartbreaking; heartrending

Context example:

the heartrending words of Rabin's granddaughter

Similar:

sorrowful (experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought

Synonyms:

grave; grievous; heavy; weighty

Context example:

the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference

Similar:

important; of import (of great significance or value)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Shockingly brutal or cruel

Synonyms:

atrocious; flagitious; grievous; monstrous

Context example:

no excess was too monstrous for them to commit

Similar:

evil (morally bad or wrong)

 Context examples 

He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Holmes—a grievous disappointment.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a grievous affair to my poor girls, you must confess.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Thus, sticks and stones, directed by these strange creatures, leaped through the air like living things, inflicting grievous hurts upon the dogs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But my disappointment was grievous and unexpected.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

As for the captain, his wounds were grievous indeed, but not dangerous.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Kind stranger, answered the pilgrim, you have unwittingly spoken words which are very grievous to me to listen to.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was as incomprehensible as it was mortifying and grievous.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“Ah, my dear,” said he, “poor Miss Taylor—It is a grievous business.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I hope, from the bottom of my heart, he won't keep her waiting much longer, for it is quite grievous to see her look so ill and forlorn.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But these solemn lessons which succeeded those, I remember as the death-blow of my peace, and a grievous daily drudgery and misery.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)