Word
grievous
Phoneticsgriev·ous
US/ˈɡɹivəs/
UK/ɡɹˈiːvəs/
Definition
adj. very serious, severe, or painful. It describes something that causes great suffering or harm.
adj. causing great pain, suffering, or severe injury; extremely serious or grave in nature. Often used in legal or medical contexts to describe physical harm or significant errors.
Examples
“The accident resulted in a grievous injury to his leg.”
“The company suffered a grievous financial loss after the main factory was forced to close.”
“The judge noted that the defendant's actions constituted a grievous breach of trust, causing irreparable damage to the community's faith in the institution.”
Examples
simple
“The accident resulted in a grievous injury to his leg.”
contextual
“The company suffered a grievous financial loss after the main factory was forced to close.”
complex
“The judge noted that the defendant's actions constituted a grievous breach of trust, causing irreparable damage to the community's faith in the institution.”
Usage
Typically used to modify nouns representing harm, such as 'injury', 'error', 'loss', or 'harm'.
Real-World Examples
“A short time later, they arrested and charged the 15-year-old boy with wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and breach of bail.” “The court clerk outlined that he faces two murder charges, two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent and two charges of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.” Etymology
From Middle English grevous, from Anglo-Norman grevous, from Old French grever, from Latin gravō (“I burden”). Developed in the 13th century. Equivalent to grief + -ous.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/grievous