GRIEVOUS

dangerous, grave, grievous, serious, severe, life-threatening

(adjective) causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; “a dangerous operation”; “a grave situation”; “a grave illness”; “grievous bodily harm”; “a serious wound”; “a serious turn of events”; “a severe case of pneumonia”; “a life-threatening disease”

atrocious, flagitious, grievous, monstrous

(adjective) shockingly brutal or cruel; “murder is an atrocious crime”; “a grievous offense against morality”; “a grievous crime”; “no excess was too monstrous for them to commit”

grave, grievous, heavy, weighty

(adjective) of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought; “grave responsibilities”; “faced a grave decision in a time of crisis”; “a grievous fault”; “heavy matters of state”; “the weighty matters to be discussed at the peace conference”

grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending

(adjective) causing or marked by grief or anguish; “a grievous loss”; “a grievous cry”; “her sigh was heartbreaking”; “the heartrending words of Rabin’s granddaughter”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology

Adjective

grievous (comparative more grievous, superlative most grievous)

Causing grief, pain or sorrow.

Serious, grave, dire or dangerous.

Synonyms

• See also lamentable

Anagrams

• grevious

Source: Wiktionary

---

Griev"ous, a. Etym: [OF. grevous, grevos, LL. gravosus. See Grief.]

1. Causing grief or sorrow; painful; afflictive; hard to bear; offensive; harmful. The famine was grievous in the land. Gen. xii. 10. The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight. Gen. xxi 11.

2. Characterized by great atrocity; heinous; aggravated; flagitious; as, a grievous sin. Gen. xviii. 20.

3. Full of, or expressing, grief; showing great sorrow or affliction; as, a grievous cry.

– Griev"ous*ly, adv.

– Griev"ous*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---