Grievance

Pronunciation

• Canada IPA: /ˈɡrivÉ™ns/
• UK IPA: /ˈɡɹiːv.É™ns/
• Rhymes: -ɪns

Alternative forms

• grievaunce archaic

Origin

Old French grievance, from the verb grever ("to irritate; to bother; to annoy") + -ance.

Full definition of grievance

Noun

1. (countable) Something which causes grief.
2. A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
• 2006, w, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point. The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.
3. A complaint or annoyance.
4. A formal complaint, especially in the context of a unionized workplace.
• If you want the problem fixed, you'll have to file a grievance with the city.