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GRIEVOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
Example:
a life-threatening disease
Synonyms:
dangerous; grave; grievous; life-threatening; serious; severe
Classified under:
Similar:
critical (being in or verging on a state of crisis or emergency)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Shockingly brutal or cruel
Example:
no excess was too monstrous for them to commit
Synonyms:
atrocious; flagitious; grievous; monstrous
Classified under:
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought
Example:
the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference
Synonyms:
grave; grievous; heavy; weighty
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
important; of import (of great significance or value)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Causing or marked by grief or anguish
Example:
the heartrending words of Rabin's granddaughter
Synonyms:
grievous; heartbreaking; heartrending
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
sorrowful (experiencing or marked by or expressing sorrow especially that associated with irreparable loss)
Context examples:
Here had been grievous mismanagement; but, bad as it was, he gradually grew to feel that it had not been the most direful mistake in his plan of education.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
This catastrophe I am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident, for I am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting so grievous an injury.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
And in his large, easy way, desirous of not inflicting hurt, knowing that to repulse this proffer of herself was to inflict the most grievous hurt a woman could receive, he folded his arms around her and held her close.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Thus relieved of a grievous load, I from that hour set to work afresh, resolved to pioneer my way through every difficulty: I toiled hard, and my success was proportionate to my efforts; my memory, not naturally tenacious, improved with practice; exercise sharpened my wits; in a few weeks I was promoted to a higher class; in less than two months I was allowed to commence French and drawing.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He was heavy-hearted to note the grievous change in her.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But more things, and most grievous ones, were happening with equal suddenness.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The solemn procession, headed by Baddeley, of tea-board, urn, and cake-bearers, made its appearance, and delivered her from a grievous imprisonment of body and mind.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I am sure, my poor mother went on, at a grievous disadvantage, and with many tears, I don't want anybody to go.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
How grievous then was the thought that, of a situation so desirable in every respect, so replete with advantage, so promising for happiness, Jane had been deprived, by the folly and indecorum of her own family!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
His demands and your inexperience together, on a small, very small income, must have brought on distresses which would not be the LESS grievous to you, from having been entirely unknown and unthought of before.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
