Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Overwhelmed with intense sorrow and distress: The word "grief-stricken" describes a state of being deeply and profoundly affected by grief, typically due to a significant loss, such as the death of a loved one.
   • Bereft of hope; despairing: It can also imply a feeling of hopelessness and profound sadness that comes with deprivation or loss.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The grief-stricken family gathered to mourn their loss. (The family, overwhelmed by sorrow, came together.)
  • She was grief-stricken for months after her friend passed away. (She was in a state of deep distress for a long period.)
  • His grief-stricken expression revealed the depth of his pain. (His face showed he was profoundly sorrowful.)

Advanced Usage

• Used attributively (before a noun): Often used directly before a noun to describe the person or group experiencing the grief.
  • The news left the entire community grief-stricken.
• Used predicatively (after a linking verb like 'be', 'feel', 'become'): Describes the subject's state.
  • He felt utterly grief-stricken and alone.

Variants and Related Words

• Grief (n): Intense sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.
  • She was overcome with grief.
• Stricken (adj): Seriously affected by an undesirable condition or feeling.
  • Poverty-stricken, panic-stricken.
• Bereaved (adj): Deprived of a close relation or friend through their death.
  • The bereaved parents received support.

Synonyms

• Heartbroken: Suffering from overwhelming distress, especially due to disappointment in love.
• Devastated: Extremely upset and shocked.
• Desolate: Feeling or showing great unhappiness or loneliness.
• Inconsolable: (of a person or their grief) not able to be comforted or alleviated.

Antonyms

• Joyful: Feeling, expressing, or causing great pleasure and happiness.
• Elated: Very happy and excited; in high spirits.
• Contented: Happy and at ease.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Stricken with grief: This is a common collocation that reinforces the meaning of "grief-stricken."
  • She was stricken with grief upon hearing the tragic news.
• To be in mourning: To show grief following a death, especially by wearing black clothes. This describes the formal or outward state, while "grief-stricken" describes the intense inner emotional state.
  • The grief-stricken widow was in mourning for a year.

Adjective

1. sorrowful through loss or deprivation
   • bereft of hope