GRIM: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for GRIM?

Need another word that means the same as “grim”? Find 71 synonyms and 30 related words for “grim” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Grim” are: dour, forbidding, blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, drab, drear, dreary, gloomy, sorry, inexorable, relentless, stern, unappeasable, unforgiving, unrelenting, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, sick, depressed, dispirited, down, down in the mouth, downcast, downhearted, low, low-spirited, black, mordant, uninviting, unapproachable, aloof, distant, dreadful, dire, horrible, horrendous, horrid, terrible, awful, appalling, frightful, shocking, unspeakable, atrocious, harrowing, mirthless, bleak, cynical, fatalistic, wretched, miserable, disheartening, depressing, cheerless, comfortless, joyless, sombre, merciless, cruel, ruthless, pitiless, savage, vicious, brutal, harsh, severe

Grim as an Adjective

Definitions of "Grim" as an adjective

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “grim” as an adjective can have the following definitions:

• Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty.
• Harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance.
• Filled with melancholy and despondency.
• Causing dejection.
• Depressing or worrying to consider.
• Harshly ironic or sinister.
• Very serious or gloomy.
• Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror.
• (especially of a place) unattractive or forbidding.
• Harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance- J.M.Barrie.
• Unrelentingly harsh.
• (of humour) lacking genuine levity; black.

Synonyms of "Grim" as an adjective (71 Words)

aloof	Remote in manner. They were courteous but faintly aloof.
appalling	Causing shock or dismay; horrific. Appalling conditions.
atrocious	Horrifyingly wicked. Atrocious cruelties.
awful	Used to emphasize the extent of something, especially something unpleasant or negative. You look awful you should go and lie down.
black	Relating to black people. The entire cast is black.
bleak	(of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favourable outcome. A bleak midwinter s day.
blue	Of a ski run of the second lowest level of difficulty as indicated by blue markers positioned along it. Blue jokes.
brutal	Disagreeably direct and precise. The brutal honesty of his observations.
cheerless	Gloomy; depressing. Something cheerless about the room.
comfortless	Having or offering nothing that serves to ease feelings or grief or distress. A comfortless room.
cruel	Causing pain or suffering. People who are cruel to animals.
cynical	Believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. Her cynical attitude.
dark	Of a person having dark skin hair or eyes. Dark as the inside of a black cat.
depressed	Filled with melancholy and despondency. Depressed by the loss of his job.
depressing	Causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy. The economic outlook is depressing.
dingy	Gloomy and drab. A dingy room.
dire	Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless- G.C.Marshall. Dire news.
disconsolate	Sad beyond comforting; incapable of being consoled. She left Fritz looking disconsolate.
disheartening	Causing someone to lose determination or confidence; discouraging or dispiriting. Her death is particularly disheartening because it was preventable.
dismal	Causing dejection. The first dismal dispiriting days of November.
dispirited	Having lost enthusiasm and hope; disheartened. She was determined to appear unworried in front of her dispirited family.
distant	Remote or far apart in resemblance or relationship. A distant cousin of the King.
dour	Showing a brooding ill humor. A dour self sacrificing life.
down	Denoting a flavour variety of stable quark having relatively low mass and an electric charge of 1 3 In the Standard Model protons and neutrons are composed of up and down quarks. You going to the movies Yo I m down.
down in the mouth	Extending or moving from a higher to a lower place.
downcast	Directed downward. Her modestly downcast eyes.
downhearted	Discouraged; in low spirits. Feeling discouraged and downhearted.
drab	Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise. Her drab suburban existence.
dreadful	Very unpleasant. A dreadful storm.
drear	Causing dejection.
dreary	Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise. A series of dreary dinner parties.
fatalistic	Relating to or characteristic of the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. He gives a fatalistic shrug at the bleak future.
forbidding	Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments. A grim and forbidding building.
frightful	Provoking horror- Winston Churchill. A frightful crime of decapitation.
ghastly	Gruesomely indicative of death or the dead. One of the most ghastly crimes ever committed.
gloomy	Filled with melancholy and despondency. A dark gloomy day.
grisly	Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror. The town was shaken by a series of grisly crimes.
gruesome	Extremely unpleasant. The most gruesome murder.
harrowing	Acutely distressing. It was a harrowing experience.
harsh	Severe. The harsh white light makes you screw up your eyes.
horrendous	Causing fear or dread or terror. She suffered horrendous injuries.
horrible	Very unpleasant. A horrible massacre.
horrid	Grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror. When she was bad she was horrid.
inexorable	Impossible to stop or prevent. The seemingly inexorable march of new technology.
joyless	Not experiencing or inspiring joy. A joyless occasion.
low	Below average in amount extent or intensity. A low bow.
low-spirited	Filled with melancholy and despondency.
macabre	Disturbing because concerned with or causing a fear of death. A macabre series of murders.
merciless	Showing no mercy. A merciless critic.
mirthless	Lacking mirth. He gave a short mirthless laugh.
miserable	Pitiably small or inadequate. Miserable victims of war.
mordant	Of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action. A mordant sense of humour.
pitiless	(especially of weather) unrelentingly harsh or severe. A night of pitiless rain.
relentless	Unceasingly intense. A patient but relentless taskmaster.
ruthless	Having or showing no pity or compassion for others. An act of ruthless ferocity.
savage	Cruel and vicious; aggressively hostile. The decision was a savage blow for the town.
severe	Severely simple. A severe test of stamina.
shocking	Very bad. I ve got a shocking cold.
sick	Intensely annoyed with or bored by (someone or something) as a result of having had too much of them. Gossip that makes one sick.
sombre	Dark or dull in colour or tone. The night skies were sombre and starless.
sorry	Without merit; of little or no value or use. I m sorry you were saying.
stern	Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor forbidding in aspect. The stern demands of parenthood.
terrible	Exceptionally bad or displeasing. A terrible crime.
unappeasable	Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty. What began as an aspiration turned soon to an unappeasable hunger.
unapproachable	Discouraging intimacies; reserved. An unapproachable executive.
unforgiving	Unwilling or unable to forgive or show mercy. He was always a proud and unforgiving man.
uninviting	Not tempting. The house was dark and uninviting.
unrelenting	Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty. Unrelenting opponents.
unspeakable	Too sacred to be uttered. I felt an unspeakable tenderness towards her.
vicious	Bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure. The dog was vicious and likely to bite.
wretched	(of a person) in a very unhappy or unfortunate state. The wretched conditions of the slums.

Usage Examples of "Grim" as an adjective

• His grim expression.
• Few creatures thrive in this grim and hostile land.
• Grim rainy weather.
• The grim aftermath of the bombing.
• Grim determination.
• A grim goalless draw in appalling weather.
• The grim task of burying the victims.
• Undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw.
• She was looking grim.
• Grim laughter.
• The outlook's pretty grim.
• Took a grim view of the economy.
• The grim news of the murder.
• Some moments of grim humour.
• Rows of grim, dark housing developments.
• A grim man loving duty more than humanity.
• A grim joke.
• Grim necessity.

Associations of "Grim" (30 Words)

blue	Blue colour or pigment. Blued paper.
cheerless	Gloomy; depressing. The corridors were ill lit and cheerless.
contemplative	A person devoted to the contemplative life. Contemplative knowledge of God.
dejected	Sad and depressed; dispirited. Is dejected but trying to look cheerful.
depressed	(of a place or economic activity) suffering the damaging effects of a lack of demand or employment. A depressed fracture of the skull.
depression	A period during the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression and mass unemployment. Depression of the space bar on the typewriter.
despair	The complete loss or absence of hope. She despaired of finding a good restaurant nearby.
despondent	In low spirits from loss of hope or courage. Despondent about his failure.
dingy	Causing dejection. A dirty or dingy white.
disconsolate	Sad beyond comforting; incapable of being consoled. A disconsolate winter landscape.
dismal	(of a person or their mood) gloomy. His dismal mood was not dispelled by finding the house empty.
dour	Stubbornly unyielding. A hard dour humourless fanatic.
downcast	A ventilation shaft through which air enters a mine. Downcast after his defeat.
drab	Clothes especially trousers made of drab. Drab camouflage uniforms.
dreary	Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise. A series of dreary dinner parties.
gloom	Be or look depressed or despondent. His gloom deepened.
gloomy	Filled with melancholy and despondency. Gloomy at the thought of what he had to face.
heartsick	Full of sorrow. Too heartsick to fight back.
melancholy	A humor that was once believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and to cause sadness and melancholy. We acquainted him with the melancholy truth.
mourning	The expression of sorrow for someone’s death. She s still in mourning after the death of her husband.
pensive	Showing pensive sadness. A pensive mood.
sad	Of things that make you feel sad Christina Rossetti. He told her the sad story of his life.
sadness	The state of being sad. It is one of life s sadnesses.
somber	Grave or even gloomy in character. Children in somber brown clothes.
sorrowful	Causing grief. A sorrowful tale of death and despair.
sorry	Causing dejection. A sorry excuse.
stern	Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor forbidding in aspect. A stern disciplinarian.
sullen	A sulky or depressed mood. A sullen sunless sky.
unhappy	Not satisfied or pleased with (a situation. Unhappy with her raise.
wistful	Showing pensive sadness. A wistful smile.