Grievance
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Something which causes grief. countable
- 2 a complaint about a (real or imaginary) wrong that causes resentment and is grounds for action wordnet
- 3 A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint. countable
"[T]he King is vveary / Of daintie and ſuch picking greeuances, / For he hath found, to end one doubt by death, / Reuiues tvvo greater in the heires of life: […]"
- 4 an allegation that something imposes an illegal obligation or denies some legal right or causes injustice wordnet
- 5 Feelings of being wronged; outrage; resentment, bitterness or anger. uncountable
"The issues of harassment and/or bullying was the top common source of grievance, followed by discipline, and then new working practices."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation wordnet
- 7 A complaint or annoyance. countable
- 8 A formal complaint, especially in the context of a unionized workplace. countable
"If you want the problem fixed, you'll have to file a grievance with the city."
- 9 Violation of regulations or objectionable behavior. uncountable
"Indeed I do confess, that many times I have showed myself both less provident and less paiful for the benefit of the commonwealth, tha I should, or might, or intended to do hereafter; and have in many actions more respected the satisfying of my own particular humour, than either justice to some private persons, or the common good of all ; yet I did not at any time either omit duty or commit grievance, upon natural dulness or set malice; but partly by abuse of corrupt counsellors, partly by error of my youthful judgement."
Example
More examples"I spent that day listening to the lonely scrapings of a pen. During that time, from time to time, I heard a Java sparrow twittering. It occurred to me that maybe Java sparrows twitter out of loneliness too. I walked out to the veranda to see. Nevertheless, flying to and fro between two perches busily and incessantly, it did not show the slightest hint of grievance."
Etymology
From Old French grievance, from the verb grever (“to irritate; to bother; to annoy”) + -ance, equivalent to grieve + -ance.
Related phrases
More for "grievance"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.