grim scenario
1
7.0
- noun
- The report detailed a grim scenario in which many families could lose their homes due to the economic downturn.
Examples
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Changing this grim scenario represents a major policy challenge for the nation.
Academic text (1990) -
"We're all going nowhere." At this point, I'm fairly sure that Thad and I were envisioning the same grim scenario.
Fiction book (2002) -
Emerging from a grim scenario of gloom and depression, Cobb and Prabhu propose utopian roles for international institutions like the World Bank or the World Parliament of Religions.
Academic text (2000) -
In the movie, the characters faced a grim scenario where they struggled to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
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The team's discussion revealed a grim scenario of potential job losses if the company did not adapt to market changes.
Synonyms
781
3.0
A very sad event that causes much suffering and loss
40
3.7
A situation that seems like a disaster but is often not as bad
29
6.0
A situation in which several bad things happen at the same time and make things much worse
18
4.4
A difficult truth you must accept
6
4.3
A situation very likely to cause serious trouble
1
8.6
A situation when many bad things happen, often said jokingly
1
8.6
An event that kills most people or destroys life on Earth
An imagined version of events where many bad things happen
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bleak or serious sequence of events' is directly and predictably composed from 'grim' (bleak, severe) + 'scenario' (a proposed sequence of events). This simple adjective + noun composition follows normal English semantics and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Grim scenario uses the word grim, meaning 'very serious' or 'sad', and scenario, meaning a picture of how events could go. So, imagine a dark picture that shows things going badly, and that's why a grim scenario means a situation likely to end 'badly'.