Gravamen

Pronunciation

• IPA: /É¡rəˈveɪmÉ›n/

Origin

Latin gravare ("to load").

Full definition of gravamen

Noun

1. The grievance complained of; the substantial cause of the action; also, in general, the ground or essence of a complaint.
• 1822, The Annual Register, or a view of the History, Politics, and Literature, of the year 1820, part II, Abstracts of State Trials, account of trial following the Peterloo Massacre, pages 902–903:Falsehood, which was in ordinary cases the gravamen of the complaint, was omitted altogether in the information against him.
• 2002, Eric S. Raymond, SF Words and Prototype Worlds:The gravamen of this essay is that these signifiers (the jargon of SF) function not merely as a set of isolated signs…