1
: causing or characterized by severe pain, suffering, or sorrow
a grievous wound
a grievous loss
2
: oppressive, onerous
grievous costs of war
grievously
adverb
grievousness
noun
Examples of grievous in a Sentence
the grievous cost of war
He took a foolish financial risk and suffered a grievous loss.
Recent Examples on the Web
Brown denied a more serious count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm at a hearing last month.
—
Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 11 July 2025
Accidental deaths are grievous enough without the specific reasons for anguish and anger in the Texas floods that took more than 120 lives.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 10 July 2025
Brown was arrested in May at a Manchester hotel and was charged with the count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as assault causing actual bodily harm and carrying an offensive weapon.
—Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
The idea that residents should trust a city coming off 30 years of grievous management errors to handle this task well is hard to believe.
—U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for grievous
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News, 11 July 2025
Accidental deaths are grievous enough without the specific reasons for anguish and anger in the Texas floods that took more than 120 lives.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 10 July 2025
Brown was arrested in May at a Manchester hotel and was charged with the count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as assault causing actual bodily harm and carrying an offensive weapon.
—Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025
The idea that residents should trust a city coming off 30 years of grievous management errors to handle this task well is hard to believe.
—U T Editorial Board, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for grievous
Cite this Entry
“Grievous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grievous. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
grievous
adjective
griev·ous
ˈgrē-vəs 
1
: heavy entry 1 sense 2, severe
the grievous cost of war
2
: causing pain, suffering, or sorrow
a grievous wound
3
: serious sense 4, grave
a grievous mistake
grievously
adverb
grievousness
noun
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share