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grim - 4 dictionary results

grim

  [grim]
Use grim in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
grimly, adverb
grimness, noun

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

Antonyms:
1. lenient. 2. attractive. 3. gentle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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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Grim

Grim\, a. [Compar. Grimmer (-mer); superl. Grimmest.] [AS. grim; akin to G. grimm, equiv. to G. & D. grimmig, Dan. grim, grum, Sw. grym, Icel. grimmr, G. gram grief, as adj., hostile; cf. Gr. ?, a crushing sound, ? to neigh.] Of forbidding or fear-inspiring aspect; fierce; stern; surly; cruel; frightful; horrible.

Whose grim aspect sets every joint a-shaking. --Shak.

The ridges of grim war. --Milton.

Syn: Syn.-- Fierce; ferocious; furious; horrid; horrible; frightful; ghastly; grisly; hideous; stern; sullen; sour.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : grim
Spanish: horrible, horroroso, macabro, nefasto,
German: schrecklich,
Japanese: ぞっとするような
More Translations »

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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