Synonyms of grim
120 similar words
Another word for grim is tough. Other synonyms of grim are brutal, severe, cold-eyed, stern and depressing.
Synonyms and similar words for grim
adjectiveDismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
- bleakUnhappy; cheerless; miserable; emotionally desolate.
- harshSevere or cruel.
- cheerlessDevoid of cheer; gloomy.
- comfortlessOf a thing: offering no comfort; uncomforting.
- darkConducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
- moroseSullen, gloomy; showing a brooding ill humour.
- depressingCausing depression or sadness.
- desolateDismal or dreary.
- direExpressing bad consequences: dreadful; dismal.
- disconsolateCheerless, dreary.
- dismalCausing despair; gloomy and bleak.
- dolefulFilled with grief, mournful, bringing feelings of sadness.
- dolesomeCharacterised or marked by sorrow and grief; doleful; dismal; gloomy.
- drearDreary.
- drearisomeCharacterised or marked by dreariness.
- drearyDrab; dark, colorless, or cheerless.
- dreich UK, dialectalBleak, cheerless, dismal, dreary, miserable.
- forlornPitifully sad, wretched, miserable; lonely, especially from feeling abandoned, deserted, forsaken.
- gaylessLacking gaiety; gloomy; somber; drab.
- grayDreary, gloomy, cloudy.
- gloomsomeCharacterised or marked by gloom.
- gloomySuffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.
- joylessWithout joy; unhappy, sad.
- lack-laughterCheerless; sombre; serious.
- lugubriousGloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree.
- melancholyAffected with great sadness or depression.
- mirthlessLacking mirth; devoid of joy; sad.
- miserableOf the weather, extremely unpleasant due to being cold, wet, overcast, etc.
- no joke
- saturnineOf a setting: depressing, dull, gloomy.
- somber
- sombreDark; gloomy; shadowy, dimly lit.
- spiritlessLacking energy, drive, motivation or emotion. Enervated.
- sullenGloomy; dismal; foreboding.
- sunlessDreary, cheerless.
- uncheerfulNot cheerful.
- uncheeryNot cheery; gloomy, pessimistic.
- unhappy
- unmerryNot merry, the opposite of merry; sad, gloomy.
- wintryChilling, cheerless.
- woeful
- brutalSavagely violent, vicious, ruthless, or cruel, often in an unintelligent manner.
- callousEmotionally hardened; unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering/feelings of others.
- coldWithout compassion; heartless; ruthless.
- insensate formalUnfeeling, heartless, cruel, insensitive.
- hardhanded
- cold-eyedThat looks coldly or dispassionately; having a fierce or aloof mein.
- cruelHarsh; severe.
- dour
- thick-skinned
- flint-heartedSynonym of hardhearted.
- forbiddingAppearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
- frostyHaving an aloof or inhospitable manner.
- hardSevere, harsh, unfriendly, brutal.
- hard-boiledOf a person, especially a detective, callous and unsentimental.
- hardenedUnfeeling; pitiless; callous.
- hardheartedLacking in compassion; cold and pitiless.
- heartlessWithout feeling, emotion, or concern for others; uncaring; cruel.
- humorlessLacking humor or levity; serious; not funny, amusing, amused, or lighthearted.
- icyCharacterized by coldness of manner; frigid; cold.
- iron-heartedSynonym of hardhearted.
- insensitiveNot expressing normal emotional feelings; cold; tactless; undiplomatic.
- marble-heartedEmotionally cold, cruel, and unfeeling.
- rigorous
- rockheartedSynonym of hardhearted.
- severeStrict or harsh.
- sternHaving a hardness and severity of nature or manner.
- stoneheartedSynonym of hardhearted.
- stonyOf a person, lacking warmth and emotion.
- stonyheartedCruel, compassionless, discompassionate, as if having a heart made of stone.
- strictSevere in discipline.
- toughOf a material, strong and resilient; sturdy.
- unsympatheticNot sympathetic; ill-disposed.
- unmovedNot sympathetic; uncaring.
- solemn obsoleteCheerless, gloomy, sombre.
adjectiveRigid and unrelenting.
- overwhelming
- unbending
- adamantine literaryOf a person: refusing to change one's mind; obstinate, stubborn.
- concrete
- firm
- graniticOf, pertaining to, or containing granite.
- inflexible
- lithic
- resistant
- rigidUncompromising.
- robust
- solid
- stiff
- stout
- sturdy
- unyieldingNot giving in; not bending; stubborn.
- batelessNot to be abated or subdued; impossible to blunt, curtail, or reduce to anything other than full strength or intensity.
- incontestableNot contestable; indisputable; certain.
- inexorable
- invincibleImpossible to defeat, destroy, or kill; too powerful to be defeated or overcome.
- irresistible
- overpoweringThat overpowers; so strong as to be overwhelming.
- potent
- puissantPowerful, mighty, having authority.
- persistent
- relentless
- unrelenting
- unremittingIncessant; never slackening.
- unstoppableUnable to be stopped.
adjectiveGhastly or sinister.
- forboding
- malevolent
- abandoned
- badTricky; stressful; unpleasant.
- bad appleA person who is not wholesome, honest, or trustworthy, especially one who has an adverse influence on others.
- bad seed
- baleful
- scurrilous
- baneful
- base
- black-heartedHaving a wicked, malignant disposition; morally bad.
- deleterious
- demonicExtremely cruel or evil; abhorrent or repugnant; diabolical.
- depraved
- despicableFit or deserving to be despised; contemptible; mean.
- detrimentalCausing damage or harm.
Meaning of grim
- adjective Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
- adjective Rigid and unrelenting.
- adjective Ghastly or sinister.
grim in other languages
Questions about synonyms of grim
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: grim (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Synonyms of grim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/grim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.