Meanings
grieve1
present singular third person grieves · participle present grieving · participle past grieved · past grieved
- transitiveTo submit or file a grievance (about).
Even if the executive director rules against the employee on appeal, the employee can still grieve the termination to the superintendent followed by an appeal to the … Board of Trustees.
2009, D'Amico, Rob (editor), Texas Teacher, published by Texas AFT (affiliate of American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO); "Austin classified employees gain due process rights", April 2009, p14
grieve2
plural grieves
- ScotlandA manager or steward, e.g. of a farm.
1559-1566, John Knox, History of the Reformation in Scotland [A prince] is nothing but a servant, overseer, or grieve, and not the head, which is a title belonging only to Christ.
1 more example
[T]heir children were horsewhipped by the grieve when found trespassing; […]
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 110
Grieve3
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo cause sorrow or distress to.
verbTo feel very sad about; to mourn; to sorrow for.
verbTo experience grief.
verbTo harm.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
grieve · verb
- Latingravō, gravāre
- Old Frenchgrever“to burden”
- Middle Englishgreven
- Englishgrieve
From Middle English greven, from Old French grever (“to burden”), from Latin gravō, gravāre, from adjective gravis (“grave”). For the meaning development compare Russian тяготи́ть (tjagotítʹ, “to be a burden (on), to oppress”), Russian тужи́ть (tužítʹ, “to experience grief”), related to тяжёлый (tjažólyj, “heavy, grave”), тя́жкий (tjážkij).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →grieve · noun
- Middle Low Germangrēve
- Old Norsegreifi
- Middle Englishgreve
- Englishgrieve
From Middle English greve, greyve, grave, grafe, from Old Norse greifi, from Middle Low German grēve, grâve, related to Old English grœfa, groefa, variants of Old English ġerēfa (“steward, reeve”). More at reeve.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Middle Low German
Full word history & related roots →Grieve · proper noun
- Middle Englishgreyve“steward, bailiff, principal officer”
- EnglishGrieve
English surname, from Middle English greyve (“steward, bailiff, principal officer”). Compare Reeve, Sheriff. Also sometimes a variant of Grave.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek λυπέω
- λυπέω (lupéō)to cause sorrow to
Bulgarian огорчавам, наскърбявам
- огорчавам (ogorčavam)to cause sorrow to
- наскърбявам (naskărbjavam)to cause sorrow to
- скърбя (skărbja)to feel very sad about
- тъгувам (tăguvam)to experience grief
Dutch bedroeven, betreuren
- bedroevento cause sorrow to
- betreurento feel very sad about
- treurento experience grief
Esperanto aflikti, ĉagreni
- afliktito cause sorrow to
- ĉagrenito cause sorrow to
- malĝojigito cause sorrow to
Estonian leinama
- leinamato feel very sad about
Finnish tehdä murheelliseksi, murehtia
- tehdä murheelliseksito cause sorrow to
- murehtiato feel very sad about
- surrato feel very sad about
French attrister, chagriner
- attristerto cause sorrow to
- chagrinerto cause sorrow to
- avoir du chagrinto feel very sad about
- être affligéto experience grief
German trauern
- trauernto experience grief
Hungarian elszomorít, bánt
- elszomorítto cause sorrow to
- bántto cause sorrow to
- bánkódikto feel very sad about
- gyászolto experience grief
Irish buair
- buairto cause sorrow to
Italian affliggere, affliggersi
- affliggereto cause sorrow to
- affliggersito feel very sad about
Māori whakapō, whakapō
- whakapōto cause sorrow to
- whakapōto feel very sad about
- huamoto experience grief
Polish rozpaczać, przeżywać żałobę
- rozpaczaćto feel very sad about
- przeżywać żałobęto experience grief
Portuguese afligir, sofrer por
- afligirto cause sorrow to
- sofrer porto feel very sad about
Russian огорча́ть, огорчи́ть
- огорча́ть (ogorčátʹ)to cause sorrow to
- огорчи́ть (ogorčítʹ)to cause sorrow to
- горева́ть (gorevátʹ)to feel very sad about
- скорбе́ть (skorbétʹ)to feel very sad about
- опла́кивать (oplákivatʹ)to feel very sad about
- горева́ть (gorevátʹ)to experience grief
- скорбе́ть (skorbétʹ)to experience grief
Scottish Gaelic caoidh, caoin
- caoidhto feel very sad about
- caointo feel very sad about
- caoidhto experience grief
- caointo experience grief
Slovak trúchliť, žialiť
- trúchliťto experience grief
- žialiťto experience grief
- smútiťto experience grief
Spanish contristar, desolar
- contristarto cause sorrow to
- desolarto cause sorrow to
- contristarseto feel very sad about
- contristarseto experience grief
- penarseto experience grief
- enlutarseto experience grief
- penarto experience grief
- estar en dueloto experience grief
- sufrir la pérdidato experience grief
- lamentarto experience grief
- estar de lutoto experience grief
- desolarseto experience grief
Swahili kuhuzunika
- kuhuzunikato experience grief
Swedish sörja
- sörjato feel very sad about
Turkish üzmek, üzülmek
- üzmekto cause sorrow to
- üzülmekto feel very sad about
- üzülmekto experience grief
Ukrainian засму́чувати, засмути́ти
- засму́чувати (zasmúčuvaty)to cause sorrow to
- засмути́ти (zasmutýty)to cause sorrow to
Vietnamese đau lòng
- đau lòngto experience grief
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with grieve
Anagrams
Cite this entry
grieve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grieve
“grieve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grieve. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grieve,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grieve.
Source: grieve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.