- Today's Word
Grievous
[GREE-vus]
Definition
- (adjective) Something that causes great sorrow, pain, or distress. It refers to actions, injuries, or offenses that are severe, serious, or deeply painful, either physically or emotionally.
Example
The company’s grievous error in mixing up medical records resulted in several patients receiving incorrect treatments and led to multiple lawsuits.
Fun Fact
“Grievous” comes from the Old French “grevous,” derived from “grever” meaning “to burden, afflict, or harm,” which ultimately traces back to the Latin “gravis” meaning “heavy.” In medieval law, the term “grievous bodily harm” became a specific legal category of criminal offense, still used in many legal systems today. Interestingly, during the Middle Ages, church scribes would mark particularly serious sins in confession records with a special symbol called a “grievous mark,” which looked like a heavy dark tear drop. The word gained additional significance during the development of maritime law, where “grievous sea damage” referred to severe damage that occurred during storms, affecting insurance claims. The term maintains such legal weight that in modern military law, “grievous violations” of the Geneva Convention are considered among the most serious war crimes. The evolution of this word shows how it has maintained its gravity across centuries, consistently being used to denote the most serious of offenses or injuries in various contexts.
(noun) Excessive confidence or boldness; rashness in the face of danger or opposition without regard for consequences.
The junior analyst had the temerity to challenge the CEO’s projections in front of the entire board — and was proven right six months later.
Temerity derives from the Latin temeritas, meaning “rashness” or “blind chance,” rooted in temere — “rashly” or “by chance” — suggesting action taken without looking, in the dark, without regard for what might be coming. It entered English in the 15th century carrying its full Latin sense of dangerous, heedless boldness — the kind that mistakes the absence of fear for the presence of wisdom.