grim

 
Pronunciation: /grɪm/

adjective (grimmer, grimmest)

  • 1very serious or gloomy: his grim expression
  • depressing or worrying to consider: the grim news of the murder
  • (of humour) lacking genuine levity; black: some moments of grim humour
  • 2(especially of a place) unattractive or forbidding: rows of grim, dark housing developments
  • unrelentingly harsh: few creatures thrive in this grim and hostile land

Phrases

the Grim Reaper

a personification of death in the form of a cloaked skeleton wielding a large scythe: he met the Grim Reaper a decade later

like (or for) grim death

British with great determination: we had to hold on like grim death

Derivatives

grimly

adverb

grimness

noun

Origin:

Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grim and German grimm