EN

Synonyms for grievous

  • adjective

Most common

heart-breaking painful distressing lamentable serious grave

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Sorrowful — causing grief, pain, or sorrow

sorrowful, lamentable, painful, distressing, heart-breaking, atrocious, deplorable, dreadful, heinous, egregious, heart-rending, mournful, tragic, calamitous, wretched, flagrant, regrettable, piteous, intolerable, disastrous, rueful, hurtful

2. Grave — serious, grave, dire, or dangerous

grave, serious, dangerous, heavy, severe, weighty, life-threatening, great, gurt UK, burdensome, perilous, somber US, sombre UK, wicked, solemn, stern, earnest, sober, staid, saturnine

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Causing grief, pain, or sorrow.

  2. adj. 2

    Serious, grave, dire, or dangerous.

Related words

Word family
grievously
Phrases
grievous bodily harm
Other spellings
grevious grievious

Example sentences

  • painful She is still in the painful process of growing up.
  • distressing Yanni went through a distressing event.
  • lamentable And now let's discuss the lamentable state of affairs.
  • serious Loss of health is more serious than loss of money.
  • grave "This grave is your new home." "What do you mean?"

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
grievoussteady
painfulrising
distressingsteady
lamentablefalling
serioussteady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters
gurt
5 letters
great1, heavy2, grave1, stern1, sober2, staid1
6 letters
severe2, tragic2, wicked2, solemn2, somber2, sombre, rueful2
7 letters
serious3, painful2, earnest2, hurtful2, heinous2, weighty2, piteous
8 letters
dreadful2, wretched2, perilous3, flagrant2, mournful2
9 letters
dangerous3, atrocious3, egregious3, sorrowful3, saturnine
10 letters
disastrous3, deplorable4, burdensome3, lamentable4, calamitous4
11 letters
distressing3, intolerable5, regrettable4

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (heavy2 = 2 syllables).