grief

 
Pronunciation: /griːf/

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1intense sorrow, especially caused by someone’s death: she was overcome with grief
  • [count noun] an instance or cause of intense sorrow: time heals griefs and quarrels
  • 2 informal trouble or annoyance: the police gave us constant grief at the match

Phrases

come to grief

have an accident; meet with disaster: many a ship has come to grief along this shore

good grief!

an exclamation of surprise or alarm: good grief, is it that time already?

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French grief, from grever 'to burden' (see grieve1)

Spelling rule

Spell grief and the related words grieve and grievance with -ie- in the middle. They all follow the rule i before e except after c (as in thief).