Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Law The part of a charge or an accusation that weighs most substantially against the accused.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The burden or chief weight; that part of an accusation which weighs most heavily against the accused; the substantial cause of an action at law; ground or burden of complaint in general.
- n. In the Ch. of Eng., a representation by the lower house of Convocation to the upper of an existing grievance, disorder, or inconvenience affecting the church. A gravamen, accompanied by a reformandum or resolution embodying action intended to remedy the trouble indicated, becomes, as adopted by the house, an articulus cleri. If agreed to by the upper house (the house of bishops), that house transmits it to the Crown and Parliament with a view to its becoming law by their action and approval.
Wiktionary
- n. The grievance complained of; the substantial cause of the action; also, in general, the ground or essence of a complaint.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Law) The grievance complained of; the substantial cause of the action; also, in general, the ground or essence of a complaint. Bouvier.
Etymologies
- Latin gravare to load (Wiktionary)
- Medieval Latin gravāmen, injury, accusation, from Late Latin, encumbrance, obligation, from Latin gravāre, to burden, from gravis, heavy; see grave2. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“An open pocketbook will easily secure a petition for pardon, it makes but little difference as to the "gravamen" of the crime.”
The Twin Hells; a thrilling narrative of life in the Kansas and Missouri penitentiaries
“The Centcom leadership also briefed the chair of the US joint chiefs-of-staff, Admiral Mike Mullen: the gravamen was the pervasive view in the region that Israel's hardline determination to establish even greater control over the West Bank and Gaza was unopposed by an impotent Washington (see Akiva Eldar, ”
“Either that, the GOP loses any legitimate gravamen to decry the campaign tactics of Rahm Emannuel or Chuckie Schumer.”
So, if you’ve been watching the Nikki Haley smear attempts… | RedState
“Its gravamen was that Barack Obama is too little like liberal hero John F. Kennedy.”
“But the gravamen of the charge against you is this: not only did you pin your colours to the mast of austerity, you preached the message to the rest of the world, not least to continental Europe.”
The Guardian: Be warned, George Osborne, austerity will be bad for your ratings
“That is the gravamen of the school as surrogate parent, and for the provision of black men in the classrooms to teach black male students how to behave "like men" and to instruct black girls how to behave like "proud black women.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Meyers: Schooling Blacks in Segregationist Thinking
“The gravamen of this opposition is that while the plan makes technical sense, and is needed by the community, it would lead to the utility making "too much money" as though anyone can determine what that means, despite its agreement to limit consumer rate increases to 2.5% per year.”
The Huffington Post: Marty Robins: Why We're Losing (Economic) Power
“The history surely will not reveal any nonpublic information that the underwriter used in portfolio selection -- yet the gravamen of a claim against UBS is that just such information was used in portfolio selection to defraud CDO investor HSH Nordbank.”
“Sadly the Daily Telegraph focuses on the latter aspects of the post – the palatial residence (“an official "White House" style residence worthy of his status.”) and the Presidential Jet - and does not arrive at the gravamen of what is going on until well into its piece.”
“You need no issue statements to review to understand the gravamen of their complaints.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gravamen’.
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phrontistery - g
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Logolepsy
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Law School Terminology
Words that I'm learning in law school
pro tanto, obiter dictum, ratio decidendi, ex facie, ab initio, per saltum, assumpsit, escheat, mandamus, seisin, easement, estoppel and 40 more...
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Awesome Names for Your Heavy Metal Band
onslaught, gamecock, chthonic, hoarfrost, kernicterus, keelhaul, simulacrum, clavicle, interregnum, catafalque, gravamen, blunderbuss and 47 more...
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hildjj's Words
bookmarklet, demisemiquaver, zeitgeist, hermeneutics, oligarch, quisling, absinthe, mellifluent, verisimilitude, implacable, necrotic, nacreous and 243 more...
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inkhorn's Words
inkhorn, aplomb, apotheosis, asinine, avatar, bombastic, boorish, bromide, bucolic, cagey, canvass, digress and 991 more...
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#termsfromtoday
I'm always entertained by the terms @immerito tweets using the hashtag #termsfromtoday. As best I can tell, the tag emerged in mid 2011 after a brief flirtation with an alternate hashtag form. You'...
vortex ring state, gamine, airshed, drayage, judging rubric, shoulder graphic, diableries, exaptation, aggravant, anecdata, monégasques, vorticity and 304 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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NeoVolt's Words
schadenfreude, serendipity, idiosyncrasy, loess, caducous, vagary, schematic, steeple, licentious, tangential, verisimilitude, vernacular and 385 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 254 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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I am the law!
Words I learnt at law school
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Critischism
Divisive devices; emissary of Momus.
peevology, pessimize, philippic, philopolemic, billingsgate, charientism, criticaster, ludification, flyting, miserabilism, misprize, admonish and 145 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Vocabulary of Lord Rahl
Master Rahl guide us.
Master Rahl teach us.
Master Rahl protect us.
In your light we thrive.
In your mercy we are sheltered.
In your wisdom we are humbled.
internecine, antipodal, poliorcetics, haruspex, hejira, conventicle, ultroneous, Myrmidon, epic, fantasy, empire, victory and 121 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gravamen.
whichbe Substance of a grievance or charge. (From Lucifeous Logolepsy) Jun 8, 2008