Grief
1. Pain of mind on account of something in the past; mental suffering arising from any cause, as misfortune, loss of friends, misconduct of one's self or others, etc.; sorrow; sadness.
2. Cause of sorrow or pain; that which afficts or distresses; trial; grievance.
3. Physical pain, or a cause of it; malady.
Usage: Grief, Sorrow, Sadness. Sorrow is the generic term; grief is sorrow for some definite cause -- one which commenced, at least, in the past; sadness is applied to a permanent mood of the mind. Sorrow is transient in many cases; but the grief of a mother for the loss of a favorite child too often turns into habitual sadness. "Grief is sometimes considered as synonymous with sorrow; and in this case we speak of the transports of grief. At other times it expresses more silent, deep, and painful affections, such as are inspired by domestic calamities, particularly by the loss of friends and relatives, or by the distress, either of body or mind, experienced by those whom we love and value." --Cogan.
2. Cause of sorrow or pain; that which afficts or distresses; trial; grievance.
3. Physical pain, or a cause of it; malady.
Usage: Grief, Sorrow, Sadness. Sorrow is the generic term; grief is sorrow for some definite cause -- one which commenced, at least, in the past; sadness is applied to a permanent mood of the mind. Sorrow is transient in many cases; but the grief of a mother for the loss of a favorite child too often turns into habitual sadness. "Grief is sometimes considered as synonymous with sorrow; and in this case we speak of the transports of grief. At other times it expresses more silent, deep, and painful affections, such as are inspired by domestic calamities, particularly by the loss of friends and relatives, or by the distress, either of body or mind, experienced by those whom we love and value." --Cogan.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,
© 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
"Given a choice between grief and nothing, I'd choose grief."
(William Faulkner)
*Photo by Desmond
Grief
I tell you hopeless grief is passionless,
That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God's throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness
In souls, as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy dead in silence like to death—
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet;
If it could weep, it could arise and go.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
