Apedia

Meaning Gravamen Part Latin Adjective Legal Gruh Vay Mun Noun

Gravamen refers to the essence or most serious part of an accusation, that which gives it weight or substance.

Gravamen se refiere a la esencia o la parte más seria de una acusación, lo que le da peso o sustancia.

Front gravamen \gruh-VAY-mun\
Back noun
The essence or the most serious part of an accusation.

["Gravamen" is not a word you hear every day, but it does show up occasionally in modern-day publications. It comes from the Latin verb "gravare," meaning "to burden," and ultimately from the Latin adjective "gravis," meaning "heavy." Fittingly, "gravamen" refers to the part of a grievance or complaint that gives it weight or substance. In legal contexts, "gravamen" is used, synonymously with "gist," to refer to the grounds on which a legal action is sustainable. "Gravis" has given English several other weighty words, including "gravity," "grieve," and the adjective "grave," meaning "important" or "serious."]

"The gravamen of James's charge against Flaubert is that he created no characters of sufficiently deep consciousness." - Joseph Epstein; Writer's Block: A French Misconnection; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Mar 31, 2007.

Tags: priorityhigh

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