grim
/ɡɹɪm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.69 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
adj
Rigid and unrelenting.
adj
Example Sentences
- "Life was grim in many northern industrial towns."
- "Developments were markedly different in the Soviet zone, but ultimately ended in perhaps an even grimmer dead end: that of SED leader Walter Ulbricht’s thoroughly Stalinized German Democratic Republic (GDR)."
- "Cristiana Paşca Palmer, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest was a grim reminder that a fresh approach needed to stabilise the climate and prevent ecosystems from declining to a point of no return, with dire consequences for humanity."
- "It's been a grim start to the year."
- "His grim determination enabled him to win."
- "A grim castle overshadowed the village."
Etymology
From Middle English grim, from Old English grimm, from Proto-West Germanic *grimm, from Proto-Germanic *grimmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡɹɪm/
- British English: /ɡɹɪm/