chagrin
Syllables: chag·rinUK/ˈʃaɡ.ɹɪn//ʃəˈɡɹɪn/
chagrin noun: a distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or mortification.
Noun
chagrin (countable and uncountable, plural chagrins)
- A distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or mortification.
- much to the chagrin (of)
- [H]e alone knew how deep was the deluded man's chagrin at the failure of the little plot which he fancied was prospering finely.1876, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 8, in Rose In Bloom
- Synonyms:
- disquiet, fretfulness, mortification, peevishness, vexation
- A type of leather or skin with a rough surface.
- Synonyms:
- shagreen
Verb
chagrin (third-person singular simple present chagrins, present participle chagrining, simple past and past participle chagrined)
- To bother or vex; to mortify.
- But since this Infidel Minister knows the folly of these Brags; which he sees destroy’d by the Relations Printed in other Countries: They serve only, for a Subject to augment his Pride; and gives him a Pleasure, the mor to Chagrine and Mortifie the French Ambassador.1683, Richard Tonson, Jacob Tonson, translated by Daniel Defoe, An Account of Monsieur De Quesne’s Late Expedition at Chio, London, page 50
- […] though you send at any Time, and even received an unmannerly Answer, do not let a rash Pride drive you to return the Affront, since it is impossible for you to know what at that Instant had chagrin’d their Temper.1748, Laetitia Pilkington, Memoirs, volume 3, Dublin, page 75
- To be vexed or annoyed.
- Dear Ma’am, why will you chagrine yourself about a vile Man, that is not worth,—no, as I live and breathe,—not worth a single Sigh?—1760, Arthur Murphy, The Way to Keep Him, London: P. Vaillant, act I, scene 1, page 8
Adjective
chagrin (comparative more chagrin, superlative most chagrin)
- Feeling chagrin; annoyed; vexed, fretful.
- Dear, my dear, pity me; I am so chagrin to day, and have had the most signal affront at Court!1673, John Dryden, Marriage a-la-mode, London: Henry Herringman, act III, scene 1, page 33
- […] instead of rejoycing at this Prosperity of his Family, which a true Father of his Children would have esteem’d his own, a Spirit of Envy and Discontent seized him, and he went away chagrine and melancholy.1718, Daniel Defoe, The Family Instructor, London: Emanuel Matthews, Volume 2, Dialogue 5, p. 390
- Synonyms:
- chagrined
chagrin meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
chagrin in Urdu
- غم, رنج
chagrin in Bengali
- হতাশা, মনঃকষ্ট
chagrin in Malayalam
- ഇച്ഛാഭംഗം, മനോവ്യഥ, കഠിനനൈരാശ്യം
chagrin in Kannada
- ಕಳಲಿಕೆ
Examples of chagrin in a sentence
- Yule's chagrin and horror at what she called her son's base ingratitude knew no bounds ; at first it was even thought that she would never get over it.[…]”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher...
- But when I reached the passage about the ‘sadism’ and ‘demonicalness’ of my persecution of you, my chagrin couldn’t hold out, and gaiety broke through.1983, Robert de Montesquiou, translated by Terence Kilmartin, “From Robert de Montesquiou, around 8 July 1915”, in Philip Kolb, editor...
- To the chagrin of Rose, one of the younger women, Ginger, has never even learned to make perogi, Polish dumplings.1998 December 27, Shirley P. Blackwell, “Enjoyable ‘Pears on a Willow Tree’ is novel of ‘cultural tussle’”, in Sun Journal, New Bern, N.C....
- That’s when the campaigning begins, much to Jon and Dany’s chagrin.2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the...
Synonyms of chagrin
Forms of chagrin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | chagrins |
| alternative misspelling | chargrin |
| alternative form (obsolete) | chagrine |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | chagrins |
| present participle | chagrining |
| past participle | chagrined |
| past | chagrined |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more chagrin |
| superlative | most chagrin |
Origin of chagrin
From French chagrin (“sorrow”), from Middle French chagrin (“pain, affliction”) (compare Middle French chagriner, chagrigner (“to experience sorrow”), Old French chagrin (“painful, afflicted”)), probably derived from Old Northern French chagreiner, chagraigner (“to sadden”), of uncertain origin. Likely an enlargement of Old French greignier, graignier (“to cringe, growl, be sullen, be angry, grieve over”), from Old French graigne (“sadness, resentment, grief”), from graim (“sorrowful”), related to Old High German gram (“furious, gloomy, grieved”). The initial syllable is obscure. It may represent Old French chat (“cat”) to express the idea of "lamenting or yowling like cats" (compare German Katzenjammer (“distress, frustration, depression, chagrin”, literally “cat-wailing, cat-misery”), katzbalgen (“to cat-fight”)). An alternative theory is that it came from a metaphorical use of French chagrin, (peau de) chagrain (“a type of roughened leather”), with the connection of roughness, though some dictionaries consider this to be a separate word derived from Old French peau de sagrin, from Ottoman Turkish صاغری (sağrı, “the rump of an animal, skin for tawing”). The alteration of initial...
Words formed from chagrin
Questions about chagrin
- What does chagrin mean?
- Chagrin means a distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or mortification.
- What is chagrin in Urdu?
- Chagrin in Urdu is غم, رنج. See Chagrin meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use chagrin in a sentence?
- Yule's chagrin and horror at what she called her son's base ingratitude knew no bounds ; at first it was even thought that she would never get over it.[…]”
- What part of speech is chagrin?
- Chagrin can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce chagrin?
- Chagrin is pronounced /ˈʃaɡ.ɹɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of chagrin?
- The plural of chagrin is chagrins.
Words near chagrin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chagrin (page history and authors); chagrin (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chagrin (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chagrin (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chagrin (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chagrin.ogg, en-au-chagrin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “chagrin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chagrin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.