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