gnaw
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
What’s missing, and might well gnaw at a viewer, is whether regenerative farming can feed the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
They hadn’t forced a takeaway in three weeks, a drought that was beginning to gnaw at the players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2024
While beetles gnaw away and burrow through the phloem under the trees' bark, the much smaller, flightless adelgid sucks out the trees' fluids and leaves behind a toxic saliva.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2024
The zoo said: "During the count, Crispin and Zac, the Zoo's two boisterous Sumatran tiger cubs, quickly turned the register in their enclosure into a toy, dragging it away to gnaw on."
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024
And we, even if we had no meat or even grass to gnaw, still boil our water to kill the invisible creatures that would like to kill us first.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Artificial intelligence could be the boogeyman that gnaws at market share.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
One man gnaws at a fleshless bone, clearly desperate for food.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
Dobbins was injured last year in a preseason game — a fact that still gnaws at him — and only now is he starting to look healthy enough to be a standout running back again.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
Yet there’s still something that gnaws at James, a player willing to grab ahold at whatever slight he can as he tries to stay motivated as his NBA career nears completion of a second decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2022
Yet at times there is something about him that gnaws at me.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
At the same time, concerns that gnawed at investors before the beginning of the war haven’t disappeared, either.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Despite his obvious good looks and small-town charm, something suspicious gnawed at me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
Every run that Australia managed to eke out for their final wicket would have gnawed away at Bavuma who was, if we are being hypercritical, guilty of a slight captaincy misstep.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2025
When she was a vegan-curious teenager, it gnawed at her that giving up animal products could mean sacrificing sports.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2024
When it was stormy, the huge fangs of the breakers gnawed at the rocky islands.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
As he wrote, “the body of the charter has been unfortunately gnawn by rats” — a comment that carries grim symbolism today, as we take up the task the rats left unfinished.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2012
He has gnawn off all the best mouthfuls already.
From Jacques Bonneval by Anne Manning
The bones of the cutlets were decorated with pink frills- and yesterday he had gnawn ham from the bone!
From Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
Neither shrink thou at the gnawn tables that await thee; the fates will find a way, and Apollo aid thy call.
From The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil
I was so confoundedly numbed and gnawn, between cold and hunger, that I don't think I could have remembered my father, I don't, faith! before I had recruited.
From The Wanderer (Volume 1 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Fanny Burney
I hopes I'll hit so hard as faither hisself wan day, when I'm grawed.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
He ’s grawed to look nowadays as if his mouth allus had a sour plum in it.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
Time was when we thought alike touching the bwoy; now we doan’t; ’cause your knowledge of un hasn’t grawed past the point wheer he downed us, an’ mine has.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
An' from bein' a puny cheel I grawed a bonny wan arter dipping.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
The stwons that built George Ridler's oven, And thauy keum from the Bleakeley's Quaar; And George he wur a jolly old mon, And his yead it grawed above his yare.
He’s more comfortable in his Bed-Stuy apartment than at the Sunset Tower, exposed brick now behind him, his dog Wednesday nearby gnawing at her paw.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
But now it seems that a very contemporary and more personal issue could be gnawing at Timesfolk and driving them to the brink of paranoia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
Citrus greening disease is caused by a bacterial infection that is delivered by the gnawing of the Asian citrus psyllid.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
Stomach gnawing and hands slightly shaky, I loaded up on ephemera for fancy paninis, held together with swipes of giardiniera mayo, and splurged on some pastel-hued botanical sodas for drinking straight from the can.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2026
Beowulf shinnied up the tree in which the snare was set and quickly cut the admiral down by gnawing through the rope with his teeth.
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Vocabulary lists containing gnaw
The Silent Treatment: Words Plagued by Silent Letters
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Unit 1: Telling Details
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Where the Red Fern Grows
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
