Synonym Chooser

How does the noun grievance contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of grievance are injury, injustice, and wrong. While all these words mean "an act that inflicts undeserved hurt," grievance applies to a circumstance or condition that constitutes an injustice to the sufferer and gives just ground for complaint.

a list of employee grievances

When is injury a more appropriate choice than grievance?

While the synonyms injury and grievance are close in meaning, injury applies in law specifically to an injustice for which one may sue to recover compensation.

libel constitutes a legal injury

When could injustice be used to replace grievance?

The words injustice and grievance can be used in similar contexts, but injustice applies to any act that involves unfairness to another or violation of one's rights.

the injustices suffered by the lower classes

When is it sensible to use wrong instead of grievance?

In some situations, the words wrong and grievance are roughly equivalent. However, wrong applies also in law to any act punishable according to the criminal code; it may apply more generally to any flagrant injustice.

determined to right society's wrongs

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of grievance And this is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance. CBS News, 3 Nov. 2024 More than a dozen locals have withdrawn grievances filed as part of the process, according to the company, but the union can refile them. Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, 30 Oct. 2024 She’s got a grievance that is probably not limited to this exchange. R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 30 Oct. 2024 Trump’s meandering spot on The Joe Rogan Experience saw the two men talk about anything from the UFC to whale psychiatry to the close-call assassination attempt to Trump’s income-tax policies to their grievances with the press. Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for grievance 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grievance
Noun
  • This means asking them to let go of any anger and resentment toward you, but don’t force anything.
    Hylke Faber, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
  • The left-populist meta-narrative that would address those resentments hasn’t quite caught on.
    Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • Earlier on Wednesday, the union representing the department’s rank-and-file officers, whose complaints to county officials triggered the report, asserted that their recent public criticism of Corpus only had to do with her job performance.
    Ryan Macasero, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024
  • The day after Simpson’s arrest last month, a federal complaint was filed against him.
    Antonio Planas, NBC News, 8 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • Accordingly, Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria and other countries run by autocrats with grudges against the United States would once again dominate global energy markets.
    Dan Ikenson, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Bob Hoskins plays the private investigator Eddie Valiant, who must overcome his grudge against toons when he’s hired to exonerate Roger Rabbit from murder charges.
    Zack Sharf, Variety, 1 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • Reports of this plan were toasted by professional cynics with a similar whine.
    Bob Raissman, New York Daily News, 10 Aug. 2024
  • Mamet is the series’ comic highlight, ping-ponging between tantrums, whines and sickly-sweet pleas with the volatility of an overgrown toddler; Jackson’s Misia receives these outbursts with an obeisance that is eventually pushed to the point of breaking.
    Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 July 2024
Noun
  • The sports world is making a big fuss about 20-time NBA All-Star LeBron James playing on the same team as his 20-year-old son, Bronny.
    DeMarco Williams, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
  • Morbius, meanwhile, sold itself with trailers featuring Spider-Man graffiti that doesn’t appear in the actual movie and made a bunch of fuss about a post-credits scene involving Michael Keaton’s MCU baddie the Vulture that ultimately didn’t make any sense nor amount to anything.
    James Grebey, TIME, 25 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • As diners dip into the salty pat of butter before them, the room goes silent save for an occasional moan.
    The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appétit, 21 Oct. 2024
  • In that study, both sexes reported their symptoms equally and exhibited the same amount of moans and complaints.
    Michael Franco, New Atlas, 21 Oct. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near grievance

Cite this Entry

“Grievance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grievance. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on grievance

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