grief
/ɡɹiːf/ noun, verb
Forms griefs grieves griefing griefed greefe griefe
- noun Suffering, hardship. “The neighbour's teenagers give me grief every time they see me.”
- noun Emotional pain, generally arising from misfortune, significant personal loss, bereavement, misconduct of oneself or others, etc.; sorrow; sadness. “She was worn out from so much grief.”
- noun (countable) A cause or instance of sorrow or pain; that which afflicts or distresses; a trial.
- verb (online gaming) To deliberately harass and annoy or cause grief to other players of a game in order to interfere with their enjoyment of it; especially, to do this as one’s primary activity in the game, and especially by exploiting game mechanics without using cheats to do so, often through acts of destruction or vandalism.
Synonyms
difficulty trouble anguish rend distress hardship pain smart torment torture dejection misery blueness tristesse mirthless blues crestfallenness depression despondency dolefulness heartache heartbreak brokenheartedness sorrow
Etymology
From Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun Cause of sorrow or pain; that which afficts or distresses; trial; grievance.
Etymology [OE. grief, gref, OF. grief, gref, F. grief, L. gravis heavy; akin to Gr. , Skr. guru, Goth. karus. Cf. Barometer, Grave, a., Grieve, Gooroo.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “grief”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details