Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
😠 To annoy 🎮 To harass online
to give grief

to give grief

8.6
To annoy or harm other players on purpose during a game
  • phrasal verb
  • Offensive
translation icon : trollear
  • We couldn't finish the mission because one player gave grief by exploiting a game glitch.

Examples

  • The server banned him after he kept giving grief to new players during matches.

  • Some kids deliberately give grief by stealing loot and blocking others' progress in raids.

  • Don't give grief to the new players!

  • Why do you give grief during matches?

  • He was reported for giving grief to other players by constantly sabotaging their games.

  • During the tournament, one player started giving grief by using glitches to disrupt everyone else's efforts.

  • It's frustrating when teammates give grief instead of working together towards a common goal.

Synonyms

to give someone a hard time
vsto give grief
  • Informal
90 3.9

Make someone feel bad by criticizing or teasing them

is focused on disrupting others' online gameplay through trolling or glitches
to give the shits
vsto give grief
  • Offensive
9.9

To make someone feel worried, angry, or very annoyed

is aimed at active harassment in multiplayer games, not mainly emotional upset

Antonyms

to cooperate
543 3.3

To work together with other people to reach the same goal

assist
33 1.8

Help given to someone to make a task easier

How Disruptive

to destroy
  • Informal
557 1.7
to sabotage
164 7.1
to give grief
  • Offensive
8.6
to troll
  • Offensive
35 6.8
to annoy
246 1.0

Surface Forms

give grief infinitive
gave grief past
given grief past participle
giving grief present participle
gives grief third person singular

Morphology

give + grief

Knowing 'give' (to cause or provide) and 'grief' (sorrow/trouble) would allow a B1 learner to infer a literal meaning like 'cause someone sorrow or problems', so there is a clear compositional link. However the specific gaming sense — deliberate harassment/sabotage ('griefing') — is specialized slang/jargon and not fully predictable from the constituents, so the expression is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The gaming use of give grief comes from the same image: to give someone grief is to give them trouble, and online players do this by blocking others, stealing items, or spoiling the game on purpose. That's why in gaming it means 'to harass or ruin another player's gameplay'.