Dictionary

grievance en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈɡɹiː.vəns/

Etymology

From Old French grievance, from the verb grever (“to irritate; to bother; to annoy”) + -ance, equivalent to grieve + -ance.

Meanings

1. (countable) Something which causes grief.
2. (countable) A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk Wayne Rooney spent much of the game remonstrating with Oliver about his own grievances and, in the interest of balance, there were certainly occasions when United had legitimate complaints.
   • Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
   • [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: […] c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], signature G, verso:
3. (uncountable) Feelings of being wronged; outrage; resentment, bitterness or anger.
   • The left half of the equation draws on grievance while the liberal half is sustained by guilt, and as such they enjoy a symbiotic relationship: the more grievance the left can generate, the more guilt the liberal will feel, and the more guilt the liberal feels, the more grievance the left are able to generate. 2008, Andrew Anthony, The Fallout: How a Guilty Liberal Lost His Innocence, →ISBN, page 21:
   • Given the non-significance of grievance in the estimated results, I proceeded to check whether the data provide a systematic and rational explanation of personal grievance among the population. 2007, Aderoju Oyefusi, Oil and the Propensity to Armed Struggle in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria:
   • Warfare is a condition in which there is more greed and more grievance, more deterrence and more defiance. 2010, John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Michael Cookson, Anomie and Violence, →ISBN:
   • The issues of harassment and/or bullying was the top common source of grievance, followed by discipline, and then new working practices. 2005, John Gennard, Graham Judge, Employee Relations, →ISBN, page 303:
4. (countable) A complaint or annoyance.
5. (countable, qualifier:human resources) A formal complaint, especially in the context of a unionized workplace.
   • If you want the problem fixed, you'll have to file a grievance with the city.
6. (uncountable) Violation of regulations or objectionable behavior.
   • Interim work rules, that served as bridge between expired and future contract between city and firefighters' association, did not commit grievance regarding firefighters' entitlement to step wage increases to arbitration. 1999, South Western Reporter (Second Series), page 71:
   • The like, 'de mot en wot,' to the barons, bailiffs, men and entire community of the port of Sanwich and its members with 'conclusion' ordering them, on their faith and loyalty, to cause the truce to be firmly observed in all its points, and forbidding them and each of them, under pain of forfeiture of life and limb and of all that they can forfeit, to commit grievance, damage, wrong or molestation by land or by sea, openly or secretly, upon any merchant or other of whatsoever estate or condition he may be of the realm of France or of the other lands of the king of France. 1970, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward I. A.D. 1272-[1307]:
   • 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. 1652, Sir Robert Cotton, Sir John Hayward, The Histories of the Lives and Raignes of Henry the III. and Henry the IIII Kings of England, page 188:

Forms

Deriveds

grievance collection · pregrievance · grievance collector · grievance studies · grievance collecting · grievancer · racial grievance industry

Synonyms

annoyance · distress · sorrow · vexation · bother · trouble · palaver · grievance · sorrow · hassle · bother · undelight · gravamen · peeve · faff · misery · ruth · sadness · wrong · vexation · plague · inconvenience · aggrievance · nuisance · grievance · grief · affliction · vexation · irritation · woe · hardship · hardship

Translations (69)

de Kümmernis (something which causes grief) · mi mamaetanga (a wrong or hardship suffered) · sv kränkthet (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · ota شكایت (complaint) · fr grief (complaint) · de Mißstand (something which causes grief) · cmn 抱怨 (complaint) · de Beschwerde (formal complaint) · de Kümmernis (a wrong or hardship suffered) · ota شكایت (formal complaint) · es transgresión (something which causes grief) · bg огорчение (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · he עָוֶל (a wrong or hardship suffered) · pt agravo (formal complaint) · es agravio (complaint) · de Missstand (something which causes grief) · de Kummer (a wrong or hardship suffered) · fi valitus (complaint) · bcl agrangay (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · la querēla (complaint) · tr şekva (complaint) · de Klage (formal complaint) · de Ärger (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · pdt Kloag (complaint) · pt reclamação (complaint) · de Klage (complaint) · el παράπονο (formal complaint) · el δυσαρέσκεια (complaint) · es motivo de queja (something which causes grief) · cmn 委屈 (complaint) · de Kränkung (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · tr şikâyet (formal complaint) · mi whakamauāhara (complaint) · fi valitus (formal complaint) · el παράπονο (complaint) · fr grief (formal complaint) · bcl agrangay (formal complaint) · hi उलाहना (complaint) · bg оплакване (complaint) · ru жа́лоба (complaint) · bg жалба (formal complaint) · bcl agrangay (something which causes grief) · de Beschwerde (complaint) · de Mißstand (a wrong or hardship suffered) · hi कष्ट (a wrong or hardship suffered) · es agravio (something which causes grief) · sv harm (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · bcl agrangay (a wrong or hardship suffered) · de Groll (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · hi परिवाद (formal complaint) · de Übelstand (something which causes grief) · tr şekva (formal complaint) · no klagemål (complaint) · ar مَظْلَمَة (a wrong or hardship suffered) · mi pāmamaetanga (a wrong or hardship suffered) · tr şikâyet (complaint) · de Wut (feelings of being wronged; outrage) · ca greuge (complaint) · de Ärgernis (something which causes grief) · de Missstand (a wrong or hardship suffered) · no klage (complaint) · bg недоволство (complaint) · he עוול (a wrong or hardship suffered) · pt queixa (complaint) · es queja (complaint) · de Ärgernis (complaint) · de Kränkung (a wrong or hardship suffered) · bcl agrangay (complaint) · de Kummer (feelings of being wronged; outrage)