grievance

Noun

grievance (countable and uncountable, plural grievances)

1. (countable) Something which causes grief.

   Synonyms:

   hardship, sorrow, affliction, aggrievance, distress, grief, misery, ruth, sadness, undelight

2. (countable) A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
   • [T]he King is vveary / Of daintie and ſuch picking greeuances, / For he hath found, to end one doubt by death, / Reuiues tvvo greater in the heires of life: […]c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600...
   • November 2 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
     Wayne Rooney spent much of the game remonstrating with Oliver about his own grievances and, in the interest of balance, there were certainly occasions when United had...
3. (uncountable) Feelings of being wronged; outrage; resentment, bitterness or anger.
   • The issues of harassment and/or bullying was the top common source of grievance, followed by discipline, and then new working practices.2005, John Gennard, Graham Judge, Employee Relations, →ISBN, page 303
   • Given the non-significance of grievance in the estimated results, I proceeded to check whether the data provide a systematic and rational explanation of personal grievance among the population.2007, Aderoju Oyefusi, Oil and the Propensity to Armed Struggle in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
4. (countable) A complaint or annoyance.

   Synonyms:

   bother, vexation, annoyance, faff, hassle, inconvenience, irritation, nuisance, palaver, peeve

5. (countable, human resources) 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.
6. (uncountable) Violation of regulations or objectionable behavior.
   • Indeed I do confess, that many times I have showed myself both less provident and less paiful for the benefit of the commonwealth, tha I should, or might, or intended to do hereafter; and have in many actions more respected the satisfying of my own particular humour, than either justice to some...1652, Sir Robert Cotton, Sir John Hayward, The Histories of the Lives and Raignes of Henry the III. and Henry the IIII Kings of England, page 188
   • The like, 'de mot en wot,' to the barons, bailiffs, men and entire community of the port of Sanwich and its members with 'conclusion' ordering them, on their faith and loyalty, to cause the truce to be firmly observed in all its points, and forbidding them and each of them, under pain of forfeiture...1970, Sir H. C. Maxwell Lyte, Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward I. A.D. 1272-[1307]