gnaw
Example Sentences
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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
Then, unprompted, Kravchenko started to talk about his own future, a subject that must gnaw at so many minds after months spent in constant danger.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2024
He had a trio of fears that sat in his gut like swallowed teeth, and when he was too quiet with his own thoughts, they’d grind together to gnaw at him from within.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Artificial intelligence could be the boogeyman that gnaws at market share.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
It only compounded the pain that gnaws at him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2026
One man gnaws at a fleshless bone, clearly desperate for food.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
It gnaws at you; it can feel like it takes up a lot of space and energy with no clear solution.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
Knowing I might not have a job after Christmas gnaws at my stomach.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
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
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
She introduced herself and asked him the questions that had gnawed at her for years: Was there a second snake?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
As the solitary beaver gnawed through the last strands, the rope parted.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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
Well, in attendance on my liege, your lord, I crossed the plain to its utmost margin, where The corse of Polyneices, gnawn and mauled, Was lying yet.
From Oedipus Trilogy by Francis Storr
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
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
Notandum, A rat had gnawn my spur-leathers; notwithstanding, I put on new, and did go forth: but first I threw three beans over the threshold.
From Volpone; Or, the Fox by Ben Jonson
Danged if I knawed 'en, vurst along, the vace of 'en's that altered: grawed a beard, her hev.
From The Delectable Duchy by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
“The childer—they grawed to love me that dear—also the men an’ women.
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
Then er calmed down, an' the back of en grawed humpetty an' his head failed a bit forrard an' he sat strokin' of the dog.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
Pearls—pearls—pearls is on Tom, an' the sea creatures gives what they can, 'cause they knaw as he'd a grawed to be a man an' theer master.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
But I be a grawed wummon now—an' yet caan't feel it so—not yet.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
You slice it the wrong way and, instead of a tender, juicy bite, you’re left gnawing on something that tastes like a rubber band.
From Salon ● May 22, 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
Healthcare, housing, car payments, groceries and energy bills are the costs really gnawing at wallets, according to an analysis from the trade organization.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026
Since our grief is less of a ready-made commodity lately, we can reorient it around ourselves, a little safer and more sovereign from the gnawing public gaze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
We’d felt so rich, we’d even bought Kutti a juicy bone from the mutton stall, and he was gnawing on it contentedly.
From "The Bridge Home" by Padma Venkatraman
Vocabulary lists containing gnaw
The Silent Treatment: Words Plagued by Silent Letters
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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