grim

[ grim ]

adjective

, grim·mer, grim·mest.

1. stern and admitting of no appeasement or compromise:

   grim determination; grim necessity.

   Synonyms: unyielding, harsh

   Antonyms: lenient

2. of a sinister or ghastly character:

   a grim joke.

   Synonyms: dreadful, hideous, gruesome, grisly, horrid, appalling, dire, horrible, frightful

   Antonyms: attractive

3. having a harsh, surly, forbidding, or morbid air:

   a grim man but a just one; a grim countenance.

   Synonyms: hard, stern, severe

   Antonyms: gentle

4. fierce, savage, or cruel:

   War is a grim business.

   Synonyms: ruthless, ferocious

5. unpleasant or repellant:

   Scrubbing toilets is a grim task that no one likes doing.

grim

/ ɡrɪm /

adjective

1. stern; resolute

   grim determination

2. harsh or formidable in manner or appearance
3. harshly ironic or sinister

   grim laughter

4. cruel, severe, or ghastly

   a grim accident

5. archaic.
   fierce

   a grim warrior

6. informal.
   unpleasant; disagreeable
7. hold on like grim death
   hold on like grim death to hold very firmly or resolutely

Derived Forms

• ˈgrimness, noun
• ˈgrimly, adverb

Other Words From

• grim·ly adverb
• grim·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grim¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German grimm, Old Norse grimmr

Word History and Origins

Origin of grim¹

Old English grimm; related to Old Norse grimmr, Old High German grimm savage, Greek khremizein to neigh

Example Sentences

The Council is also set to hear from city staff Tuesday on the grim five-year outlook for funding all the necessary improvements to the city’s roads, streets, drains, pipes and all the rest.

From Voice of San Diego

It’s because of surfing that I still know how to smile when things are otherwise grim.

From Outside Online

Regulators increasingly viewed Amazon as a threat to competition, and the company’s own workers at times told grim tales about their mistreatment, as they sought to carry out Bezos’s mission to create a consumer-first “everything store.”

From Washington Post

He warned it will be a months-long and difficult process to distribute vaccines, and characterized himself as a “straight shooter” for offering that grim timeline.

From Washington Post

If one can summon any optimism nearly a year into a grim and persistent pandemic, this is the moment to do it.

From Vox

These were conversations that took a fairly grim twist pretty quickly.

From The Daily Beast

The grim instability of shelter life is hardly a recipe for success under the best of circumstances.

From The Daily Beast

But if the goal is to maintain any hope—grim as it is— for serious negotiations leading to a two state solution.

From The Daily Beast

Alan Gross was in a cheery mood, having survived a grim five-year stint in a Cuban prison.

From The Daily Beast

The worst may be over for many of the refugees, but their first look at life in Europe is pretty grim.

From The Daily Beast

But Ulm was only the commencement of the campaign, and even after Austerlitz Napoleon pursued the enemy with grim resolution.

From Project Gutenberg

War turns them from making the glittering superfluities of peace to making its grim engines of destruction.

From Project Gutenberg

As he read, a look of surprise came over his face, and then his countenance grew stern and grim.

From Project Gutenberg

Taking his stand at the end of the desk, he made MacRae reiterate in detail the grim happenings of that night.

From Project Gutenberg

By every art known to the wily Porter did he try to mislead his pursuers; but they hung on to his trail like grim death.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dogged
• ferocious
• fierce
• merciless
• relentless
• resolute
• ruthless
• unrelenting