Grudge Meaning
/ɡɹʌd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounDeep-seated and/or long-term animosity or ill will about something or someone, especially due to perceived mistreatment.
verbTo be unwilling to give or allow (someone something).
Sentence Examples
It's not serious, I don't bear him a grudge.
I bear no grudge against you.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He held a ____ against his brother for taking his bicycle without asking.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is much healthier to forgive someone for their past mistakes rather than holding a bitter ____ for many years.
Word Origin & History
A variant of grutch (mid 15th-century, younger than begrudge), from Middle English grucchen (“to murmur, complain, feel envy, begrudge”), from Old French grouchier, groucier (“to murmur, grumble”), of Germanic origin, probably ultimately imitative. Akin to Middle High German grogezen (“to howl, wail”), German grocken (“to croak”). Compare also Old Norse krytja (“to murmur”), Old High German grunzen (“to grunt”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I have never mentioned it to a human creature; I have kept my grudge to myself. I daresay I have been wicked, but my grudge has grown old with me."
— 1877 March, Henry James, Jr., chapter XXII, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, page 389:
"It is towards Saduko that he bears a grudge, for you know, my father, one should never pull a drowning man out of the stream — which is what Saduko did, for had it not been for his treachery, Cetewayo would have sunk beneath the water of Death — especially if it is only to spite a woman who hates him."
— 1913, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter XV, in Child of Storm:
"If we of the central land were to grudge you what is beneficial, and not to compassionate your wants, then wherewithal could you foreigners manage to exist?"
— 1841, Edmund Burke, The Annual Register, Rivingtons, page 430:
"Of course, his interest in the war and in the regiment was unbounded; he did not take to drill with especial readiness, but he was insatiable of it, and grudged every moment of relaxation."
— 1869, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Army Life in a Black Regiment, Fields, Osgood, & Co., page 62:
"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, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He held a ____ against his brother for taking his bicycle without asking.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is much healthier to forgive someone for their past mistakes rather than holding a bitter ____ for many years.