grudgery

Etymology

From grudge + -ery.

grudgery means deep-seated animosity or ill-feeling about something or someone, maintained over a long period of time; the experience of maintaining such sentiments. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “grudgery” is a great word

GRUDGERY — [Noun] The deep-seated, habitual practice of nursing a long-held animosity; a state defined by the ritualized maintenance of a cherished resentment. From grudge (meaning "a persistent feeling of ill will or resentment") + the noun-forming suffix -ery (denoting a state, condition, or practice). Unlike “resentment,” a more immediate sting of displeasure, or “animosity,” a strong but not necessarily aged hostility, grudgery is the chronic, lived-in condition of nursing an old wound. It is the exact weight of an old slight measured out each morning like bitter coffee; the meticulous recalibration of a family tree over decades to account for a single, unforgotten snub; the patient, granular work of polishing a grievance until it becomes the most familiar object in the mind's possession. To live in grudgery is to build a home inside a bruise.

noun

Deep-seated animosity or ill-feeling about something or someone, maintained over a long period of time; the experience of maintaining such sentiments.