verb
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to feel or cause to feel great sorrow or distress, esp at the death of someone
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obsolete (tr) to inflict injury, hardship, or sorrow on
noun
Usage
What does grieve mean? To grieve is to feel or express intense grief—mental or emotional suffering or distress caused by loss or regret.Grieve often means the same thing as mourn. It’s especially used in the context of someone who is mourning the death of a loved one.However, the word can also be used in the context of other situations involving loss or regret, such as the end of a relationship or the loss of a job.Less commonly, grieve can mean to cause someone to feel grief, as in It grieves me to see you so sad.Grieve should not be confused with bereave, which means to take away and leave devastated. Those who are grieving are those who have been bereaved.Example: After losing someone close, it’s important to take the time to grieve.
Related Words
Grieve, mourn imply showing suffering caused by sorrow. Grieve is the stronger word, implying deep mental suffering often endured alone and in silence but revealed by one's aspect: to grieve over the loss (or death ) of a friend. Mourn usually refers to manifesting sorrow outwardly, either with or without sincerity: to mourn publicly and wear black.
Other Word Forms
- grievedly adverb
- griever noun
- grieving noun
- grievingly adverb
- nongrieved adjective
- nongrieving adjective
- overgrieve verb
- ungrieved adjective
- ungrieving adjective
Etymology
Origin of grieve
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English greven, grieven, from Old French grever, from Latin gravāre “to burden,” verb derivative of gravis “heavy”; grave 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the lavish memorial erected by his grieving widow, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert is golden, but few world leaders are permanently gilded, and certainly not before their deaths.
From Los Angeles Times
He moved past familiar passages: how to call up the realms, how to initiate a Recollection, how to comfort a grieving soul.
From Literature
“Although we’re grieving there is some comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace.”
From Los Angeles Times
Rousseau later apologised in a written statement released in both English and French, saying he was deeply saddened his inability to speak French "diverted attention" from the pilots' grieving families and Air Canada staff.
From BBC
King recalled grieving "at the stove top" and said cooking "was the way of mam showing her love and care".
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
