How to use grudge in a sentence

31 example sentences · noun, verb

Grudge means deep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment. Example: “That guy sure can hold a grudge when something goes wrong.”

Examples of grudge by meaning

nounDeep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment.

to have, hold, owe or bear a grudge against someone

verbTo be unwilling to give or allow (someone something).

Our two inimitable drolls did a roaring trade with their broadsheets among lovers of the comedy element and nobody who has a corner in his heart for real Irish fun without vulgarity will grudge them their hardearned pennies.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
I've never seen such people for borrowing and lending; there was dough changing hands in all directions, and nobody grudged anyone.1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter III, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC

More sentences with grudge

That guy sure can hold a grudge when something goes wrong.From the entry hold a grudge
I made a mistake. That's not a good reason to hold a grudge against me.From the entry hold a grudge
Although she was not ultimately removed from office, she still carried a grudge against her impeachers.From the entry impeacher
I don't hold grudges to anyone but Emilia.From the entry Emilia
The Celestis have a particular and personal grudge against the Doctor.2023 April, Doctor Who RPG - Unofficial Sourcebooks. From the entry recorporate
But that's not the same thing as harboring a grudge, is it?2019, Sophie Hannah, How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment—The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life, Simon and Schuster…. From the entry harbor
Barlow, 73, bears no grudge that she spent decades being neglected by both commercial and public galleries.2017 May 10, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, “Phyllida Barlow: I couldn't have coped if fame had come 20 years ago”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry bear a grudge
Earlier, there would probably have been a grudge match between two townies, or locals.2008, Jim Sharman, Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir, Melbourne University Publishing, page 18. From the entry townie
I've seen many furries holding long, irrational grudges and playing all-too-human social politics.2007 August 23, Warren Forest, “What have you learned from being furry?”, in alt.lifestyle.furry (Usenet). From the entry furrydom
You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon.1967, Cool Hand Luke, spoken by Carr (Clifton James). From the entry grabass
Wide-grained and with hard knots of stubbornness, rilesome and quick to judge and long to hold a grudge.2016, Ivan Doig, Heart Earth: A Memoir, page 86. From the entry rilesome
I have a very strong personal grudge against my ex-husband, and I'd love to see him finally get his comeupance.2001, Oswald G. Ragatz, Reunion with Murder, page 26. From the entry comeupance
I hold no grudge—I deserved it for lipping off.2000, James W. Marlin, On the Other Hand: An Autobiography. From the entry lip off
He's a Feebie who holds a grudge."1995, Sharon Zukowski, Leap of Faith, page 199. From the entry Feebie
Their indifference, however, sharpened to hostility in regard to the Chinese, against whom they seemed to nourish a special grudge.1933, Ada Elizabeth Jones Chesterton, Young China and New Japan. From the entry facultize
Not a man in Lyall's house that night but grudged him the privilege of standing up with Joan Shelley.1909, Lucy Maud Montgomery, “A Redeeming Sacrifice”, in Short Stories: 1909-1922. From the entry stand up with
No need in holding a grudge.2013, Michelle Robinson, Right Before My Eyes, page 59. From the entry I know that's right
Others contend that women mistreat one another because of hyperemotionality, leading them to become overly invested in insignificant nuances and causing them to hold grudges.2009 January 11, Peggy Klaus, “A Sisterhood of Workplace Infighting”, in New York Times. From the entry hyperemotionality
Cooley, 87, former partners who reconciled in Texas after a four-decade schism born of their rivalry, apparently decided the grudge was no longer worth sustaining.2007 December 9, Abby Goodnough, “No, We Don't Want to Kiss and Make Up”, in New York Times. From the entry feuder
So every alleyway down here, every shadow big enough to hide a shive artist with a grudge, is a warm invitation to rewrite history.2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 50. From the entry shive
None of which he grudged, for he felt, like his father the third Baron, that one should never cheesepare on boys' education.2001, Sheila Fletcher, Victorian Girls: Lord Lyttelton's Daughters. From the entry cheesepare
In public he put on a performance that was at once outraged and outrageous, but usually he did not carry grudges into his private life.1983 August 13, John Kyper, “Flamboyant Inquisitor”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 5, page 14. From the entry advance
The crop season was at hand and the sugarcane fields, managerless, were open to the malice of those who bore the Tulsis grudges.1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Part Two, Chapter 3. From the entry managerless
I grudged him this happiness; for McMahon, who took the actual risk of starting it, had been broken just before prosperity began.1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 167. From the entry break
He does not grudge their honoring the powers of Heaven: it is their terror and the untimeliness of their prayers that he deprecates.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “V. The Seven Against Thebes”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 135. From the entry untimeliness
As Henry lay awake that first night the hiss and spatter of the rain against his window seemed to have a personal grudge against him.1917, Hugh Walpole, The Green Mirror, New York: George H. Doran, Book 3, Chapter 3, p. 344. From the entry spatter
And then comes that inevitable moment when someone makes a snide remark or brings up a past grudge, and the bottom falls out and things go south fast.2012, Sarah Francis Martin, Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties in a Decade of Drama, Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc…. From the entry Hallmark moment
For now, though, and for here, I vote that instead of the current necrohippoflagellation, we, like, move on, put aside any grudges, and start talking about, like, Buffy.1999 October 31, Miriam Ruth Rocke, “Enough already (was Re: For those of us who can't be arsed)”, in uk.media.tv.buffy-v-slayer (Usenet). From the entry necrohippoflagellation

Meaning of grudge

noun Deep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment.
verb To be unwilling to give or allow (someone something).
verb To grumble, complain; to be dissatisfied.

Full definition of grudge

Questions about grudge in a sentence

How do you use grudge in a sentence?: Grudge is used as a noun and verb. For example: “That guy sure can hold a grudge when something goes wrong.”
What is a short sentence with grudge?: “No need in holding a grudge.”
What does grudge mean?: Grudge means deep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment.

Adapted from Wiktionary: grudge (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 grudge in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/grudge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.