Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use grievance in a sentence

34 example sentences · noun

Grievance means something which causes grief. Example: “If you want the problem fixed, you'll have to file a grievance with the city.”

Examples of grievance by meaning

nounA wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.

  • Throughout the 1500s, the populace roiled over a constellation of grievances of which the forest emerged as a key focal point.2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

nounFeelings of being wronged; outrage; resentment, bitterness or anger.

  • 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
  • Warfare is a condition in which there is more greed and more grievance, more deterrence and more defiance.2010, John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Michael Cookson, Anomie and Violence, →ISBN

nounA 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.

nounViolation of regulations or objectionable behavior.

  • Interim work rules, that served as bridge between expired and future contract between city and firefighters' association, did not commit grievance regarding firefighters' entitlement to step wage increases to arbitration.1999, South Western Reporter (Second Series), page 71

More sentences with grievance

  • She's been nursing a grievance for a while now. It's time to air it out.From the entry air out
  • Foremost among the workers’ grievances was the company’s failure to address the many safety issues in the plant.From the entry foremost
  • It is more professional to accept differences, no matter what the grievance, and walk away on talking terms.From the entry on talking terms
  • As Brexit becomes a settled fact of life, it will still be a cause of remainer grievance.2021 February 9, Rafael Behr, “Sturgeon and Johnson have made Scottish independence seem inevitable. It isn't”, in The Guardian. From the entry Scexit
  • You fill in the details of this mythos with personal grievances and accusations.2016, Daniel Shapiro, “Uncovering Your Mythos of Identity”, in Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve Your Most Emotionally Charged…. From the entry mythos
  • 'If the cub has a grievance, let him bring it to the King's judgement,' answered Saeros.2007, J. R. R. Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin. From the entry woodwose
  • Supermarket suppliers with a grievance have been urged to speak up soon or forever hold their peace.2006 October 25, “Farming supermarket 'victims' urged to speak out”, in The Scotsman, Scotland, retrieved 03 Oct 2013. From the entry hold one's peace
  • In such cases, the spokesperson for the family grouping generally approaches the foreman with the family's grievance.1996, Miriam J. Wells, Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture. From the entry family grouping
  • Her bonnet was in its third year; it was a great grievance to Annie.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC. From the entry nubbly
  • The figures, uncovered by the BBC, have prompted allegations that universities are deliberately using gagging orders to stop grievances becoming public.2019 April 17, Simon Murphy, “UK universities pay out £90m on staff 'gagging orders' in past two years”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry gagging order
  • Liberalization has lifted the lid on many pent-up grievances, and old-timers in the government and the monkhood are stoking these sentiments.2014 June 6, Min Zin, “The People vs. The Monks”, in The New York Times. From the entry lift the lid
  • In brief, the kadogos and the Angolans had different sets of grievances, yet they both converged on the same target.2009, René Lemarchand, The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa, Philadelphia, page 239. From the entry kadogo
  • Gingerism in the workplace could form the basis of formal grievances or constructive dismissal cases, an employment lawyer has warned.2007 June 14, “Red hair bullying cases could end up in court”, in The Register. From the entry gingerism
  • Independent developers began airing longstanding grievances, skeletons in the closet, and as-told-tos about Microsoft tactics over the years.1993, Stephen Manes, Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America, page 420. From the entry longstanding
  • Grievances of this kind have been strong in Kwangtung province.1976, Alan P. L. Liu, Political Culture & Group Conflict in Communist China, Clio Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 68. From the entry Haifeng
  • He forgave her in the end; but it cost him an effort and he nursed his grievance for three whole days.1976 [1862], Victor Hugo, “Part Three: Marius; chapter VI”, in Norman Denny, transl., Les Misérables, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books…. From the entry time heals all things
  • Individual grievance will continue to smoulder him.1963, India. Parliament. Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha Debates, page 7015. From the entry smoulder
  • China had substantial grievances against the peninsula kingdom.1933, “The Korean War and the Closing Years a.d. 645–50”, in Son of Heaven: A Biography of Li Shih-Min, founder of the T’ang Dynasty…. From the entry sanguinary
  • The Queen has nothing but the power to execute the laws, to adjust grievances and to compel order.1912, L. Frank Baum, chapter 14, in Sky Island. From the entry compel
  • At the outset Mahmoud commanded Mehemet to withdraw his forces and to lay his grievances before his Sultan.1912, Spencer Walpole, A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815, revised edition, volume IV, London: Longmans…. From the entry death grip
  • “Jean, it ain't right how you separated those two,” he said, and pianoed the little coffin with his fingers, tapping out his grievance.2017, Kim Michele Richardson, The Sisters of Glass Ferry. From the entry piano
  • Similar to those who shame and publicly air their grievances today, the New Testament Pharisees were also known to look down on others with contempt.2016, Scott Sauls, Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear, →ISBN, page 45. From the entry outrage porn
  • Utu demanded that both favors and grievances be repaid in kind, but it was the grievances, naturally, that caused the most trouble.2008, Christina Thompson, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, Bloomsbury, published 2009, page 129. From the entry utu
  • I arbitrated complex employee grievance matters.1987, Trans World Airlines' Employment, Retention, and Promotion of Blacks. From the entry nonjury
  • 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 legitimate complaints.2014 November 2, Daniel Taylor, “Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United”, in The Guardian, archived…. From the entry remonstrate
  • In his inaugural, President Obama proclaimed 'an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics'.2009 March 13, Teddy Davis, ABC News. From the entry inaugural
  • Ngāi Tahu with education and some familiarity with the Pākehā world exerted pressure on their rangatira and on tribal rūnanga to seek compensation from the Crown for these grievances.2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 317. From the entry runanga
  • Naturally, the wisdom of striking to remedy grievances was questioned; but there were few dissentients from the view that the Government and B.T.C. are mishandling the human relations involved.1962 November, “Talking of Trains: The one-day strike”, in Modern Railways, page 291. From the entry dissentient
  • The miners′ grievances centred on the issue of the compulsory purchase of miners′ licences and the harassment of raids by the licensing police, the ‘traps,’ in search of unlicensed miners.1996, Judith Kapferer, Being All Equal: Identity, Difference and Australian Cultural Practice, page 84. From the entry trap

Meaning of grievance

  1. noun Something which causes grief.
  2. noun A wrong or hardship suffered, which is the grounds of a complaint.
  3. noun Feelings of being wronged; outrage; resentment, bitterness or anger.

Full definition of grievance

Questions about grievance in a sentence

How do you use grievance in a sentence?
Grievance is used as a noun. For example: “If you want the problem fixed, you'll have to file a grievance with the city.”
What is a short sentence with grievance?
“I arbitrated complex employee grievance matters.”
What does grievance mean?
Grievance means something which causes grief.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grievance (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:

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