grim

grim 1 Grim, implacable, relentless, unrelenting, merciless grievanceare comparable when they mean so inexorable or obdurate as to repel or bar any effort to move one from one's purpose or course.

Grim (see also GHASTLY) usually implies tenacity of purpose and stern determination which show themselves outwardly in a forbidding aspect or in a formidable appearance; the term is applicable not only to persons or their words,' acts, and looks but to things which reflect or reveal the grimness of persons

{

grim Death

}

{

grim necessity

}

{

the Florentines . . . prepared to do grim battle for their liberties— Oliphant

}

Implacable implies the impossibility of placating, pacifying, or appeasing and is used in reference to men or to higher beings

{

in friendship false, implacable in hate— Dry den

}

{

he [an African god] is utterly and absolutely implacable; no prayers, no human sacrifices can ever for one moment appease his cold, malignant rage— L. P. Smith

}

However, the term is increasingly used to imply an inflexibly uncompromising character or an incapacity for yielding or making concessions, and, in this sense, it is applicable not only to persons but to things

{

when the true scholar gets thoroughly to work, his logic is remorseless, his art is implacable— Henry Adams

}

{

I wanted truth presented to me as it is, arduous and honest and implacable— Ellis

}

Relentless and unrelenting differ mainly in that the former suggests a character and the latter a mood governing action; both imply an absence of pity or of any feeling that would cause one to relent and to restrain through compassion the fury or violence of one's rage, hatred, hostility, or vengeance

{

relentless critics

}

{

woe to thee, rash and unrelenting chief!— Byron

}

Both terms often carry so strong an implication of indefinite duration or of unremitting activity that they are frequently used to describe something which promises not the slightest abatement in severity, violence, or intensity as long as life or strength lasts

{

relentless pursuit

}

{

the relentless vigilance of the secret service men

}

{

the unrelenting fury of a storm

}

{

with unwearied, unscrupulous and unrelenting ambition— Macaulay

}

{

everywhere I went in town, the people knew about them, and said nothing .... I found this final, closed, relentless silence everywhere— Wolfe

}

Merciless differs from relentless and unrelenting mainly in stressing an innate capacity for inflicting cruelty without qualms or an unparalleled fierceness or savagery; otherwise it carries much the same implications

{

a merciless whipping

}

{

harder than any man could be—quite merciless— Cloete

}

Analogous words: inexorable, obdurate, adamant, inflexible: inevitable, *certain: *fierce, ferocious, cruel, fell: malignant, malevolent (see MALICIOUS)

Antonyms: lenient

2 *ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, lurid

Analogous words: *fierce, truculent, savage: repellent, *repugnant: repulsive, revolting, loathsome, *offensive

Contrasted words: benign, benignant, kindly, *kind