grief

B2 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ɡɹiːf/ See IPA manual

Freq #3720

Meanings

1

noun
Deep sadness, especially after someone you love dies.

She was overcome with grief after her father's death.
2

noun
Something that causes great unhappiness or trouble.

Losing the house was a great grief to the whole family.
3

noun
Annoyance or trouble caused by other people (informal).

The neighbour's kids give me grief every single day.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · deep sadness, especially... heartacheheartbreaksorrow

2 noun · something that causes great... sorrow affliction

3 noun · annoyance or trouble caused... hardship trouble

Word family

Forms griefs

Derived forms eco-griefgrief-strickengrief-struckgrieffulgrieflessgrieflikegriefsomegriefworkgriefyheartgriefspleefungrief

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

poignant grief
deep sorrow that is painfully moving or emotionally affecting

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Grief is the price we pay for love

Etymology

From Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave.

*gʷreh₂- Proto-Indo-European greef Middle English grief Old French gravis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Register & Style

External links

# grief

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɡɹiːf/
**Frequency rank:** 3720

## Meanings
1. Deep sadness, especially after someone you love dies.
2. Something that causes great unhappiness or trouble.
3. Annoyance or trouble caused by other people (informal).

## Examples
- She was overcome with grief after her father's death.
- Losing the house was a great grief to the whole family.
- The neighbour's kids give me grief every single day.

## Derived Forms
- eco-grief
- grief-stricken
- grief-struck
- griefful
- griefless
- grieflike
- griefsome
- griefwork
- griefy
- heartgrief
- spleef
- ungrief

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *gʷreh₂-
- Root: greef
- Root: grief
- Root: gravis

## Etymology
From Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave.

## AI Etymology
Grief comes from Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave. The historical line also includes *gʷreh₂- (Proto-Indo-European). In current use, the main senses are “Deep sadness, especially after someone you love dies” and “Something that causes great unhappiness or trouble”.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Register & Style

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