Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The main claim or most important aspect of a complaint against a defendant.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The burden or chief weight; that part of an accusation which weighs most heavily against the accused; the substantial cause of an action at law; ground or burden of complaint in general.
- noun In the Ch. of Eng., a representation by the lower house of Convocation to the upper of an existing grievance, disorder, or inconvenience affecting the church.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Law) The grievance complained of; the substantial cause of the action; also, in general, the ground or essence of a complaint. Bouvier.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
grievance complained of; thesubstantial cause of the action; also, in general, the ground oressence of a complaint.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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An open pocketbook will easily secure a petition for pardon, it makes but little difference as to the "gravamen" of the crime.
The Twin Hells; a thrilling narrative of life in the Kansas and Missouri penitentiaries John N. Reynolds
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The Centcom leadership also briefed the chair of the US joint chiefs-of-staff, Admiral Mike Mullen: the gravamen was the pervasive view in the region that Israel's hardline determination to establish even greater control over the West Bank and Gaza was unopposed by an impotent Washington (see Akiva Eldar, "
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The gravamen of this opposition is that while the plan makes technical sense, and is needed by the community, it would lead to the utility making "too much money" as though anyone can determine what that means, despite its agreement to limit consumer rate increases to 2.5% per year.
Marty Robins: Why We're Losing (Economic) Power Marty Robins 2011
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But the gravamen of the charge against you is this: not only did you pin your colours to the mast of austerity, you preached the message to the rest of the world, not least to continental Europe.
Be warned, George Osborne, austerity will be bad for your ratings 2012
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The gravamen of this opposition is that while the plan makes technical sense, and is needed by the community, it would lead to the utility making "too much money" as though anyone can determine what that means, despite its agreement to limit consumer rate increases to 2.5% per year.
Marty Robins: Why We're Losing (Economic) Power Marty Robins 2011
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Its gravamen was that Barack Obama is too little like liberal hero John F. Kennedy.
Science 2010
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That is the gravamen of the school as surrogate parent, and for the provision of black men in the classrooms to teach black male students how to behave "like men" and to instruct black girls how to behave like "proud black women."
Michael Meyers: Schooling Blacks in Segregationist Thinking Michael Meyers 2011
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Either that, the GOP loses any legitimate gravamen to decry the campaign tactics of Rahm Emannuel or Chuckie Schumer.
So, if you’ve been watching the Nikki Haley smear attempts… | RedState 2010
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That is the gravamen of the school as surrogate parent, and for the provision of black men in the classrooms to teach black male students how to behave "like men" and to instruct black girls how to behave like "proud black women."
Michael Meyers: Schooling Blacks in Segregationist Thinking Michael Meyers 2011
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The history surely will not reveal any nonpublic information that the underwriter used in portfolio selection -- yet the gravamen of a claim against UBS is that just such information was used in portfolio selection to defraud CDO investor HSH Nordbank.
Louis M. Guenin: Regulating Collateralized Debt Obligations, the Elephant in the Room Untouched by Financial Reform Bills Louis M. Guenin 2010
whichbe commented on the word gravamen
Substance of a grievance or charge. (From Lucifeous Logolepsy)
June 8, 2008
jboyd commented on the word gravamen
Wodehouse, ‘Summer Lightning’ (Everyman/Overlook), 234.
September 7, 2020