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GRIM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: grimmer , grimmest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
Example:
macabre tortures conceived by madmen
Synonyms:
ghastly; grim; grisly; gruesome; macabre; sick
Classified under:
Similar:
alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)
Derivation:
grimness (the quality of being ghastly)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Causing dejection
Example:
grim rainy weather
Synonyms:
blue; dark; dingy; disconsolate; dismal; drab; drear; dreary; gloomy; grim; sorry
Classified under:
Similar:
cheerless; depressing; uncheerful (causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Filled with melancholy and despondency
Example:
feeling discouraged and downhearted
Synonyms:
blue; depressed; dispirited; down; down in the mouth; downcast; downhearted; gloomy; grim; low; low-spirited
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
dejected (affected or marked by low spirits)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty
Example:
the stern demands of parenthood
Synonyms:
grim; inexorable; relentless; stern; unappeasable; unforgiving; unrelenting
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
implacable (incapable of being placated)
Derivation:
grimness (something hard to endure)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
Example:
undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw
Synonyms:
dour; forbidding; grim
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unpleasant (offensive or disagreeable; causing discomfort or unhappiness)
Derivation:
grimness (the quality of being ghastly)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Harshly ironic or sinister
Example:
fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
sarcastic (expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds)
Derivation:
grimness (the quality of being ghastly)
Context examples:
It may present as a cutaneous disorder with a benign clinical course or a systemic disorder with a grim prognosis.
(Malignant Atrophic Papulosis, NCI Thesaurus)
Jo smothered a laugh at the sudden change, and when someone gave a modest tap, opened the door with a grim aspect which was anything but hospitable.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Standing in the window we saw that his left hand was swathed in a bandage and that his face was very grim and pale.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I saw a grim smile contort Mr. Rochester's lips, and he muttered—"No, by God! I took care that none should hear of it—or of her under that name."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And still the bull-dog, with grim certitude, toiled after him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
My apprehensions of being disparaged to the object of my engrossing affection were revived when we went into the drawing-room, by the grim and distant aspect of Miss Murdstone.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Then began as grim a tragedy of existence as was ever played—a sick man that crawled, a sick wolf that limped, two creatures dragging their dying carcasses across the desolation and hunting each other's lives.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
But it was not till the third day that we found them, all of them, the shears included, and, of all perilous places, in the pounding surf of the grim south-western promontory.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do—if "pleased" could be used in connection with so grim an interest.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
A minute later, the grim doctor and ourselves were in the sitting-room below.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
