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Grim

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grim

[grim]
–adjective, grim⋅mer, grim⋅mest.
1. stern and admitting of no appeasement or compromise: grim determination; grim necessity.
2. of a sinister or ghastly character; repellent: a grim joke.
3. having a harsh, surly, forbidding, or morbid air: a grim man but a just one; a grim countenance.
4. fierce, savage, or cruel: War is a grim business.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE; c. OS, OHG grimm, ON grimmr


grimly, adverb
grimness, noun


1. harsh, unyielding. 2. frightful, horrible, dire, appalling, horrid, grisly, gruesome, hideous, dreadful. 3. severe, stern, hard. 4. ferocious, ruthless.


1. lenient. 2. attractive. 3. gentle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Grim
grim   (grĭm)   
adj.   grim·mer, grim·mest
  1. Unrelenting; rigid.

  2. Uninviting or unnerving in aspect; forbidding: "undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw" (J.M. Barrie).

  3. Ghastly; sinister: "He made a grim jest at the horrifying nature of his wound" (Reginald Pound). See Synonyms at ghastly.

  4. Dismal; gloomy: a grim, rainy day.

  5. Ferocious; savage: the grim advance of the pillaging army.


[Middle English, from Old English, fierce, severe.]
grim'ly adv., grim'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

grim 
O.E. grimm "fierce, cruel," from P.Gmc. *grimmaz (cf. Ger. grimm, O.N. grimmr, Swed. grym "fierce, furious"), from PIE *ghrem- perhaps imitative of the sound of rumbling thunder (cf. Gk. khremizein "to neigh," O.C.S. vuzgrimeti "to thunder," Rus. gremet' "thunder"). A weaker word now than once it was; sense of "dreary, gloomy" first recorded c.1175. It also had a verb form in O.E., grimman (class III strong verb; past tense gramm, p.p. grummen). O.E. also had a noun, grima "goblin, specter," perhaps also a proper name or attribute-name of a god, hence its appearance as an element in place names. As a noun meaning "a form of bogey or haunting spirit," first recorded 1628.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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