Definition of: grief

(grēf) noun
1. Sorrow or mental suffering resulting from loss, affliction, regret, etc.
2. A cause of sorrow; an affliction; grievance.
3. An accident, as in hunting or racing; a mishap.
4. Obs. Physical pain; distress; also, a cause of pain.
—to come to grief To have misfortune; fail. [<OF <grever GRIEVE]
—grief′less adjective
—grief′less·ness noun Synonyms: affliction, agony, distress, melancholy, mourning, regret, sadness, sorrow, tribulation, trouble, woe. Grief is acute mental pain resulting from loss, misfortune, or deep disappointment. Grief is more acute and less enduring than sorrow. Sorrow and grief are for definite cause; sadness and melancholy may arise from a vague sense of want or loss, from a low state of health, or other ill-defined cause; sadness may be momentary; melancholy is more enduring, and may become chronic. Affliction is a deep sorrow and is applied also to the misfortune producing such sorrow; mourning most frequently denotes sorrow publicly expressed. Antonyms: see synonyms for HAPPINESS.