come to grief

C c

Definitions of come to grief words

phrase come to grief If something comes to grief, it fails. If someone comes to grief, they fail in something they are doing, and may be hurt. 3
noun come to grief to end unsuccessfully or disastrously 3
noun come to grief to fail or be ruined 3
noun come to grief keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret. 1
noun come to grief a cause or occasion of keen distress or sorrow. 1
idioms come to grief come to grief, to suffer disappointment, misfortune, or other trouble; fail: Their marriage came to grief after only two years. 1

before 1175

One of the 8% oldest English words

1175-1225; Middle English gref, grief < Anglo-French gref; see grieve

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 94% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer