Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An actual or supposed circumstance regarded as just cause for complaint.
- n. A complaint or protestation based on such a circumstance. See Synonyms at injustice.
- n. Indignation or resentment stemming from a feeling of having been wronged.
- n. Obsolete The act of inflicting hardship or harm.
- n. Obsolete The cause of hardship or harm.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cause of grief or distress; a wrong inflicted by another or others; a source or occasion of annoyance or hardship.
- n. Grief; affliction.
- n. Discomfort; pain.
Wiktionary
- n. countable Something which causes grief.
- n. A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
- n. A complaint or annoyance.
- n. A formal complaint, especially in the context of a unionized workplace.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A cause of uneasiness and complaint; a wrong done and suffered; that which gives ground for remonstrance or resistance, as arising from injustice, tyranny, etc.; injury.
- n. Grieving; grief; affliction.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an allegation that something imposes an illegal obligation or denies some legal right or causes injustice
- n. a complaint about a (real or imaginary) wrong that causes resentment and is grounds for action
- n. a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
Etymologies
- Old French grievance, from the verb grever ("to irritate; to bother; to annoy") + -ance. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English grevaunce, from Old French grevance, from grever, to harm; see grieve. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As Len Untereiner says, the main grievance is with the actual perpetrators of the harm and sexual abuse.”
“You see, straightforwardness does bring people out of all difficulties at last, and when the main grievance is set right, all the collateral grievances which arose out of the supposed fact, fall to the ground.”
Selections from the Letters of Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury to Jane Welsh Carlyle
““This grievance is all about discrimination of a religious sect, and the conspiracy for the deprivation of rights secured by the Constitution,” wrote Richland inmate Ronald Lutz, 64.”
“The inaugural grievance is the additional airport and airline restrictions to which we will all be subject.”
“Suggesting the deportation of people with whom you obviously have no meaningful grievance is absurdist.”
“We have developed a political culture now to the point where the sense of grievance is sometimes so great, the sense of focus on a single issue or a single interest so great, that we miss the point of the exercise -- that we're trying to build something.”
“I suggest that the main grievance of the West against tariffs is their failure so far to build up an industrial east that could absorb a sufficient proportion of western production.”
“Neither do I want you to be under the illusion that every Indian man who has a grievance is speaking his grievance out because he is prejudiced against the Britisher.”
“I'm afraid so," he confessed humbly; "for we all know that when we catch cold the grievance is not ours, but our nurse's.”
“I'm afraid so,' he confessed humbly; 'for we all know that when we catch colds the grievance is not ours, but our nurse's.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘grievance’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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INTERP - types of documents
bulky document, rule, paper, draft, bill, accounts laid bef..., alternative amend..., amendment made by, bills of major co..., budget blueprint, Code of Conduct f..., committee recomme... and 103 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Good Words
fenestering, cetic, immanent, quickening, archetypal, shibboleth, soma, wetware, heritable, Apotheosis, halcyon, cellar door and 482 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, G
grocer, gabanergic, gabardine, gabbro, gaffe, gneiss, grapple, grosgrain, grommet, gratify, gossamer, goofy and 194 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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pop ups
erstwhile, allegiance, sacked, reinstate, vengeance, affluent, sedative, maverick, caricatives, abandoned, faux pas, ambience and 245 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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vivek's list
flibbertigibbet, droll, reticence, prelude, erinaceous, brinkmanship, depone, inaniloquent, limerance, pronk, onomatopoeia, oxymoron and 385 more...
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Katnguyen's Words
amenable, cornicopia, truthiness, collaborative, buzzword, nexus, zenith, apex, nondenominational, omnipotent, omniscient, sinecure and 37 more...
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Summer 2012
ephemeral, grievance, brood, inquisitive, lexophile, salve, finery, traipse, prognosticate, penultimate, laggard, testify and 3 more...
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Core Vocab-Week 5
Words for the week of February 20-23
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Violence UNIT III
Living in society
Tweets
Looking for tweets for grievance.
reesetee Wow. WeirdNet can be mighty judgmental. Feb 6, 2009