grief

[greef] /grif/
noun
1.
keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.
2.
a cause or occasion of keen distress or sorrow.
Idioms
3.
come to grief, to suffer disappointment, misfortune, or other trouble; fail:
Their marriage came to grief after only two years.
4.
good grief, (used as an exclamation of dismay, surprise, or relief):
Good grief, it's started to rain again!
Origin
1175-1225; Middle English gref, grief < Anglo-French gref; see grieve
Related forms
griefless, adjective
grieflessness, noun
Synonyms
1. anguish, heartache, woe, misery; sadness, melancholy, moroseness. See sorrow.
Antonyms
1. joy.
British Dictionary definitions for come to grief

grief

/ɡriːf/
noun
1.
deep or intense sorrow or distress, esp at the death of someone
2.
something that causes keen distress or suffering
3.
(informal) trouble or annoyance: people were giving me grief for leaving ten minutes early
4.
(informal) come to grief, to end unsuccessfully or disastrously
5.
tune someone grief, See tune (sense 17)
Derived Forms
griefless, adjective
Word Origin
C13: from Anglo-French gref, from grever to grieve1
Word Origin and History for come to grief

grief

n.

early 13c., "hardship, suffering, pain, bodily affliction," from Old French grief "wrong, grievance, injustice, misfortune, calamity" (13c.), from grever "afflict, burden, oppress," from Latin gravare "to cause grief, make heavy," from gravis "weighty" (see grave (adj.)). Meaning "mental pain, sorrow" is from c.1300.

come to grief in Medicine

grief (grēf)
n.
Deep mental anguish, as that arising from bereavement.

Slang definitions & phrases for come to grief

grief

noun

Complaints; faultfinding; reprimand: I don't want no grief from the fourteenth floor (1929+)

Related Terms

give someone grief


Idioms and Phrases with come to grief

come to grief

Meet with disaster or failure. For example, The icy runway caused at least one light plane to come to grief. [ Mid-1800s ]

grief

see: