grievous

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈɡrivəs/ UK /ˈɡriːvəs/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
causing great suffering, harm, or sorrow; very serious

His careless words caused her grievous pain.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · causing great suffering,... serious severe grave dire egregious heinous calamitous

Opposites

trivial minor slight negligible

Word family

Forms grievously

Derived forms grievouslygrievousness

Related forms grief grieve grievance gravamen

Etymology

From Old French grevos ('heavy, grievous'), from grief ('hardship'), from Latin gravis ('heavy').

grevos Old French gravis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Word Formation & Derivatives

# grievous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈɡrivəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈɡriːvəs

## Meanings
1. causing great suffering, harm, or sorrow; very serious

## Examples
- His careless words caused her grievous pain.

## Synonyms
- serious
- severe
- grave
- dire
- egregious
- heinous
- calamitous

## Antonyms
- trivial
- minor
- slight
- negligible

## Derived Forms
- grievously
- grievousness

## Related Forms
- grief
- grieve
- grievance
- gravamen

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: grevos
- Root: gravis

## Etymology
From Old French grevos ('heavy, grievous'), from grief ('hardship'), from Latin gravis ('heavy').

## AI Etymology
Grievous is from Old French grevos ('heavy, grievous'), from grief ('hardship'), from Latin gravis ('heavy'). In present-day use, it means causing great suffering, harm, or sorrow; very serious. Derived formations include grievously and grievousness. Related vocabulary includes grief, grieve, grievance, and gravamen.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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grievous

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