different between bemoan vs grieve

English

Etymology

From Middle English bemenen, bimenen, from Old English bem?nan (“to bemoan, bewail, lament”); equivalent to be- (“about, concerning”) +? moan. Alteration of vowel from Middle to Modern English due to analogy with moan.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??m??n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??mo?n/
• Rhymes: -??n
• Hyphenation: be?moan

Verb

bemoan (third-person singular simple present bemoans, present participle bemoaning, simple past and past participle bemoaned)

1. (transitive) To moan or complain about (something).

   Synonyms: bewail, lament, mourn

   • 1577, Raphael Holinshed, The Chronicles of England, Scotlande and Irelande, London: John Hunne, “King Richard the seconde,” p. 1075^[1]:

     The losse of this erle was greatly bemoned by men of al degrees, for he was liberal, gentle, humble, and curteous to eche one […]

   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter 1^[2]:

     […] after deliberately marrying General Shaw with no warmer feeling than respect for his character and establishment, [she] was constantly, though quietly, bemoaning her hard lot in being united to one whom she could not love.

   • 1957, Muriel Spark, The Comforters, New York: Avon, 1965, Chapter 7, p. 155^[3]:

     “I am sure you are better off without Mr. Hogg,” Helena would say often when Georgina bemoaned her husband’s desertion.

   • 2004, Andrea Levy, Small Island, London: Review, Chapter Nine, p. 112^[4]:

     He’d have told that horrible sister of his that more coloureds had just turned up. How many is it now? they’d have said to each other. Fifty? Sixty? ‘You’ll have to speak to her, Cyril,’ she’d have told him, before bemoaning how respectable this street was before they came.

2. (transitive, reflexive) To be dismayed or worried about (someone), particularly because of their situation or what has happened to them.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II scene v^[5]:

     Son. Was ever son so rued a father’s death?

     Father. Was ever father so bemoan’d his son?

   • 1640, George Abbot, The Whole Booke of Iob Paraphrased, London, Chapter 6, verse 12, pp. 40-41^[6]:

     Sure you take mee not to be made of flesh, or if so, yet not to be sensible that thinke me able to beare these burthens without bemoning my selfe.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 28^[7]:

     My rest might have been blissful enough, only a sad heart broke it. […] It trembled for Mr. Rochester and his doom; it bemoaned him with bitter pity […]

   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:

     […] So we cried to him, "O Rais, what is the matter?"; and he replied saying, "Seek ye deliverance of the Most High from the strait into which we have fallen and bemoan yourselves and take leave of one another; for know that the wind hath gotten the mastery of us and hath driven us into the uttermost of the seas of the world."

   • 1987, Tanith Lee, “Children of the Night” in Night’s Sorceries, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, p. 396^[8]:

     “He is come to the town in order to marry a hapless maiden. The lady must be bemoaned.”

Derived terms

• bemoaner
• bemoaning
• bemoaningly
• forebemoaned

Translations

Anagrams

• Beamon, on-beam, onbeam

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /??i?v/
• Rhymes: -i?v

Etymology 1

From Middle English greven, from Old French grever (“to burden”), from Latin grav?, grav?re, from adjective gravis (“grave”).

Verb

grieve (third-person singular simple present grieves, present participle grieving, simple past and past participle grieved)

1. (transitive) To cause sorrow or distress to.

   • Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

   • Thy maidens griev'd themselves at my concern.

2. (transitive) To feel very sad about; to mourn; to sorrow for.

   to grieve one's fate

3. (intransitive) To experience grief.
4. (transitive, archaic) To harm.
5. (transitive) To submit or file a grievance (about).
   • 2009 D'Amico, Rob, Editor, Texas Teacher, published by Texas AFT (affiliate of American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO); "Austin classified employees gain due process rights", April 2009, p14:

     Even if the executive director rules against the employee on appeal, the employee can still grieve the termination to the superintendent followed by an appeal to the [...] Board of Trustees.

Derived terms

• begrieve
• grieved
• griever
• grievingly

Related terms

• grievance
• grievous
• grief

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English greve, greyve, grave, grafe, from Old Norse greifi, from Middle Low German gr?ve, grâve,related to Old English grœfa, groefa, variants of Old English ?er?fa (“steward, reeve”). More at reeve.

Noun

grieve (plural grieves)

1. (obsolete) A governor of a town or province.
2. (chiefly Scotland) A manager or steward, e.g. of a farm.

Derived terms

• grieveship

Anagrams

• regive

Old French

Verb

grieve

1. third-person singular present indicative of grever