Synonyms for grim
- adjective
Most common
gloomy bleak dour dismal frightening vicious hideous inexorable
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Gloomy — dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding
gloomy, bleak, dour, dismal, dreary, grisly, dire, gruesome, ghastly, dark, stern, cruel, glum, somber US, sombre UK, depressing, forbidding, morose, brutal, cheerless, forlorn, macabre, disconsolate
2. Frightening — ghastly or sinister
frightening, vicious, foreboding, eerie, aerie US, sinister, creepy, evil, wicked, malevolent, heinous
3. Hideous — disgusting; gross
hideous, horrid, dreadful, terrible, horrible, appalling, unpleasant, revolting, loathsome
4. Inexorable — rigid and unrelenting
inexorable, unrelenting, relentless, unforgiving, implacable, unyielding, dogged, overwhelming
Definitions
- adj. 1
Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
Life was grim in many northern industrial towns.
- adj. 2
Rigid and unrelenting.
His grim determination enabled him to win.
- adj. 3
Ghastly or sinister.
A grim castle overshadowed the village.
- adj. 4
Disgusting; gross.
Related words
- Word family
- grimlike grimly grimness grim-the-collier
Example sentences
- bleak To some people, Algeria's future is looking bleak.
- dreary I've got to go to another dreary meeting tomorrow.
- grisly He shuddered with horror at the grisly sight.
- dour Tom's dour silence said more than any words could.
- frightening I was terrified of receiving a frightening answer.
- foreboding Despite her foreboding, Mary entered the cellar.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| grim | rising | |
| bleak | rising | |
| dreary | rising | |
| grisly | rising | |
| dour | rising | |
| frightening | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- dark1, evil2, dire1, dour2, glum1
- 5 letters
- black1, cruel2, stern1, bleak1, eerie2, aerie2
- 6 letters
- brutal2, creepy2, wicked2, savage2, fierce1, gloomy2, dismal2, horrid2, dreary2, somber2, dogged1, sombre, grisly2, morose2
- 7 letters
- violent3, vicious2, hideous3, heinous2, ghastly2, macabre3, forlorn2, brutish2
- 8 letters
- terrible3, horrible3, dreadful2, sinister3, gruesome2
- 9 letters
- appalling3, ferocious3, revolting3, loathsome2, truculent3, cheerless
- 10 letters
- depressing3, unpleasant3, relentless3, forbidding3, malevolent4, foreboding3, unyielding3, inexorable5, implacable4
- 11 letters
- frightening3, unforgiving4, unrelenting4
- 12 letters
- overwhelming4, disconsolate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evil2 = 2 syllables).