The Collaborative International Dictionary
Grim \Grim\ (gr[i^]m), a. [Compar. Grimmer (-m[~e]r); superl. Grimmest (-m[e^]st).] [AS. grim; akin to G. grimm, equiv. to G. & D. grimmig, Dan. grim, grum, Sw. grym, Icel. grimmr, G. gram grief, as adj., hostile; cf. Gr. ?, a crushing sound, ? to neigh.] Of forbidding or fear-inspiring aspect; fierce; stern; surly; cruel; frightful; horrible.
Whose grim aspect sets every joint a-shaking.
--Shak.
The ridges of grim war.
--Milton.
Syn: Syn.-- Fierce; ferocious; furious; horrid; horrible; frightful; ghastly; grisly; hideous; stern; sullen; sour.
Wiktionary
a. (en-superlative of: grim)
WordNet
See grim
adj. not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty; "grim determination"; "grim necessity"; "Russia's final hour, it seemed, approached with inexorable certainty"; "relentless persecution"; "the stern demands of parenthood" [syn: inexorable, relentless, stern, unappeasable, unforgiving, unrelenting]
shockingly repellent; inspiring horror; "ghastly wounds"; "the grim aftermath of the bombing"; "the grim task of burying the victims"; "a grisly murder"; "gruesome evidence of human sacrifice"; "macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle ages"; "macabre tortures conceived by madmen" [syn: ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre]
harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit" [syn: black, mordant]
causing dejection; "a blue day"; "the dark days of the war"; "a week of rainy depressing weather"; "a disconsolate winter landscape"; "the first dismal dispiriting days of November"; "a dark gloomy day"; "grim rainy weather" [syn: blue, dark, depressing, disconsolate, dismal, dispiriting, gloomy]
harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance; "a dour, self-sacrificing life"; "a forbidding scowl"; "a grim man loving duty more than humanity"; "undoubtedly the grimmest part of him was his iron claw"- J.M.Barrie [syn: dour, forbidding]
characterized by hopelessness; filled with gloom; "gloomy at the thought of what he had to face"; "gloomy predictions"; "a gloomy silence"; "took a grim view of the economy"; "the darkening mood" [syn: gloomy, darkening]