grim Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty
    unrelenting; inexorable; unappeasable; relentless; stern; unforgiving.
    • grim determination
    • grim necessity
    • Russia's final hour, it seemed, approached with inexorable certainty
    • relentless persecution
    • the stern demands of parenthood
  2. adjective satellite shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    macabre; grisly; ghastly; sick; gruesome.
    • ghastly wounds
    • the grim aftermath of the bombing
    • the grim task of burying the victims
    • a grisly murder
    • gruesome evidence of human sacrifice
    • macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle ages
    • macabre tortures conceived by madmen
  3. adjective satellite harshly ironic or sinister
    mordant; black.
    • black humor
    • a grim joke
    • grim laughter
    • fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit
  4. adjective satellite harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    forbidding; dour.
    • a dour, self-sacrificing life
    • a forbidding scowl
    • a grim man loving duty more than humanity
    • undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw"- J.M.Barrie
  5. adjective satellite filled with melancholy and despondency
    blue; downhearted; dispirited; down in the mouth; depressed; downcast; down; gloomy; low; low-spirited.
    • gloomy at the thought of what he had to face
    • gloomy predictions
    • a gloomy silence
    • took a grim view of the economy
    • the darkening mood
    • lonely and blue in a strange city
    • depressed by the loss of his job
    • a dispirited and resigned expression on her face
    • downcast after his defeat
    • feeling discouraged and downhearted
  6. adjective satellite causing dejection
    blue; dingy; drear; disconsolate; dreary; dark; gloomy; dismal; drab; sorry.
    • a blue day
    • the dark days of the war
    • a week of rainy depressing weather
    • a disconsolate winter landscape
    • the first dismal dispiriting days of November
    • a dark gloomy day
    • grim rainy weather

WordNet

Grim adjective
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
comparative Grimmer superlative Grimmest
Definitions
  1. 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.-- Fierce; ferocious; furious; horrid; horrible; frightful; ghastly; grisly; hideous; stern; sullen; sour.

Webster 1913