Definition of CHAGRIN

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Noun

Chagrin comes from French, in which it means "grief," "sorrow," or essentially the same thing as our "chagrin," and in which it is also an adjective meaning "sad." Some etymologists have linked this "chagrin" with another French chagrin, meaning "rough leather or "rough skin." Supposedly, the rough leather used to rub, polish, or file became a metaphor in French for agitating situations. English-speakers have also adopted the leathery "chagrin" into our language but have altered the spelling to "shagreen."

Examples of chagrin in a Sentence

Noun

As many a woman has learned to her chagrin, pathological liars are brilliant at deception. — Katha Pollitt, Nation, 16 June 2003 In World War I, to his chagrin, Eisenhower again found himself on the sidelines, performing training duties stateside while Pershing, MacArthur, and Patton earned their battle ribbons. — U.S. News & World Report, 16 Mar. 1998 In 1628, to the chagrin of Governor William Bradford, the Pilgrims erected an 80-foot Maypole, danced around it, drank beer, and sang. — E. C. Krupp, Sky & Telescope, May 1994 Imagine my chagrin when a whiz kid from Dayton made all A's in the first quarter while I made two B's and a C+. — John Hope Franklin, Race and History, 1989 The fact that he'd been unable to attend the funeral was a source of chagrin for Ted. She had gained five pounds over the winter, much to her chagrin. He decided to get a tattoo, to the chagrin of his parents.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The president’s announcement Thursday offered them no reprieve, to the chagrin of William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. — John Flesher, The Seattle Times, "Trump backtracks on call to gut $300M Great Lakes program," 30 Mar. 2019 The K-State coach who had chirped about officiating after Saturday’s loss left his chagrin in Lawrence and had his players ready to face the nation’s No. 4 team. — Blair Kerkhoff, kansascity, "K-State corrals Trae Young, college basketball’s shooting star," 17 Jan. 2018 The Haiti policy wasn’t in effect when Barr (and Bush) left office — it was put on hold by an appeals court, much to Barr’s chagrin. — Dara Lind, Vox, "William Barr hearing: attorney general nominee’s immigration record aligns with Trump’s," 16 Jan. 2019 Facebook has before complied with government requests to take down content in Vietnam, one of its fastest-growing markets, often to the chagrin of local activists. — James Hookway, WSJ, "Facebook on Notice as Vietnam Tightens Grip on Social Media," 9 Jan. 2019 That excludes the big four but just lets in Santander (£315bn), to some challengers’ chagrin. — The Economist, "The digital upstarts taking on Britain’s dominant few banks," 15 Feb. 2018 His past study of turkey vultures in Land Park helped explain why hundreds of these huge birds tended to congregate in one location (much to some residents’ chagrin). — Debbie Arrington, sacbee, "Picky songbirds demand native oaks," 19 Jan. 2018 Most, likely to Paula Begoun’s chagrin, are sheet masks. — Ashley Weatherford, The Cut, "Your BFF Busy Philipps Found NYC’s Hidden Sheet Mask Utopia," 11 June 2018 But to Hrusovsky’s chagrin, there were a few all-male panels. — Shirley Leung, BostonGlobe.com, "Let’s make the ‘manel’ — the all-too-common all-male panel — extinct," 17 May 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Harriman was chagrined over a minor federal criminal case under way at that time. — Thomas J. Baker, WSJ, "What Barr Knows About Firing an FBI Head," 14 Jan. 2019 Many were also chagrined by the fact that Collins, a woman and an ostensibly moderate Republican, cast her vote for Kavanaugh. — Anna North, Vox, "The #MeToo movement and its evolution, explained," 9 Oct. 2018 They have been particularly chagrined by his circumspect attitude toward special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives during the campaign. — Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, "Gerard Baker replaced as editor of Wall Street Journal," 5 June 2018 Lawler was impressed by the Ramones' farming know-how and chagrined by the loss of their 5-acre livelihood. — John Tuohy, Indianapolis Star, "Nation's largest urban farm nears opening in Fishers with a little help from Puerto Rico," 22 May 2018 People with disabilities and advocates for disability rights have been particularly chagrined by one image making the rounds on social media: an upright man silhouetted against a backdrop of stars, with an empty wheelchair in the foreground. — Jessica Roy, latimes.com, "Erasing Stephen Hawking's disability erases an important part of who he was," 16 Mar. 2018 Free-trade advocates in the U.S., however, were chagrined at the split-screen image of Washington’s allies signing a new trade pact while the American president unveils new tariffs. — William Mauldin, WSJ, "Pacific Trade Pact Sets Sail Without the U.S. on Board," 8 Mar. 2018 There were announcement stunners, artful baseball cap reveals, apparent intra-family discord, flips that thrilled one program’s supporters and chagrined another’s. — Chris Johnson, SI.com, "National Signing Day 2018: Winners and Losers From the Fax Machine Frenzy," 7 Feb. 2018 Other investment banks based in Moscow were chagrined and suspected that Deutsche owed its success to its alliance with Russian state interests. — Luke Harding, Newsweek, "Is Donald Trump’s Dark Russian Secret Hiding in Deutsche Bank’s Vaults?," 21 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chagrin.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.