How to use chagrin in a sentence

14 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Chagrin means a distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or mortification. Example: “They were chagrined to see that the price of diesel had climbed past six dollars a gallon.”

Examples of chagrin by meaning

nounA distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or...

much to the chagrin (of)
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....

verbTo bother or vex; to mortify.

She would go on like that for hours, connecting one offense to another until all of the things that chagrined her were spewed out.1970, Toni Morrison, “Autumn”, in The Bluest Eye, New York: Pocket Books, published 1972, page 23

More sentences with chagrin

They were chagrined to see that the price of diesel had climbed past six dollars a gallon.From the entry diesel
The company's directors were chagrined to learn that banks were suddenly refusing to discount its notes.From the entry discount
She was chagrined to note that the paint had dried into a blotchy mess.From the entry chagrined
Mrs Bewdon’s kindness to Jane was profoundly chagrining.1941, Elizabeth Bowen, “No. 16”, in The Collected Stories of Elizabeth Bowen, New York: Knopf, published 1981, page 553. From the entry chagrining
She added, perhaps to the chagrin of the AI doomers in the crowd: "This is not a trial on the safety risks of artificial intelligence."2026 May 9, Dara Kerr, “What I saw at the Musk-OpenAI trial: petty billionaires, protests and a stern judge”, in Katharine Viner, editor…. From the entry doomer
"A ten-bob note secured me quarter of an hour alone with the attendance ledger in a backroom." Holmes said, with a touch of chagrin.2014, James Lovegrove, Gods of War. From the entry ledger
I want the same chagrin people feel when called out for picking their nose or picking their wedgie in public to be their lot with blasterbating.2024 July 5, Kendra Stanton Lee, “Blasterbating Needs to Stop. Turn Down For What? – Opinion”, in Newsweek, archived from the original on…. From the entry blasturbate
The Chairman James Kaplan tended to his busy slate of record and film projects, while Mia, too, actively sought movie work, somewhat to her husband's chagrin.2015 October 29, James Kaplan, Sinatra: The Chairman, Hachette UK, →ISBN. From the entry slate
Despite extensive planning and countless rounds of testing, we found out (much too late) to our chagrin that the game would “crash to desktop” on certain computers.2009, Gibson, David, Baek, Young Kyun, Digital Simulations for Improving Education: Learning Through Artificial Teaching Environments…. From the entry crash to desktop
Not long after the start Mr Bhosh was chagrined to discover that he was all behindhand, and he almost despaired of overtaking any of his fore-runners.1902, F. Anstey, chapter 13, in A Bayard from Bengal, London: Methuen, pages 97–98. From the entry behindhand

Meaning of chagrin

noun A distress of mind caused by a failure of aims or plans, a want of appreciation, mistakes, etc.; vexation or mortification.
noun A type of leather or skin with a rough surface.
verb To bother or vex; to mortify.

Full definition of chagrin

Questions about chagrin in a sentence

How do you use chagrin in a sentence?: Chagrin is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “They were chagrined to see that the price of diesel had climbed past six dollars a gallon.”
What is a short sentence with chagrin?: “much to the chagrin (of)”
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.

Adapted from Wiktionary: chagrin (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use chagrin in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/chagrin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.