grief means suffering, hardship.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, grief ranks #11,921 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words.
grief is pronounced /ɡɹiːf/.
Why “grief” is a great word
Deep sorrow, especially that caused by someone's death or a significant loss. From Middle English *greef, gref*, from Old French *grief* ("grave, heavy, grievous, sad"), from Latin *gravis* ("heavy, grievous, sad"). Unlike "sorrow," a more general sadness, or "anguish," a searing and acute pain, grief is a specific gravity of the soul. It is the continued subscription to a dead man's newspaper, the unopened door of a child's bedroom, the way a widow's hand still hovers over the second pillow before sleep—the body learning, again each morning, what the mind already knows, carrying this absence as we carry our bones.
Etymology
From Middle English greef, gref, from Old French grief (“grave, heavy, grievous, sad”), from Latin gravis (“heavy, grievous, sad”). Doublet of grave.
noun
- Suffering, hardship.“The neighbour's teenagers give me grief every time they see me.”
- 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.”
- A cause or instance of sorrow or pain; that which afflicts or distresses; a trial.“Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”
verb
- 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.“While ban and his pals stand squarely in this tradition, they also stand for something new: the rise of organized griefing, grounded in online message-board communities and thick with in-jokes, code words, taboos, and an increasingly articulate sense of purpose. No longer just an isolated pathology, griefing has developed a full-fledged culture.”
Words closest in meaning
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