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.
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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
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
Only this time, instead of letting the anxiety gnaw at her confidence, she accepted its presence, took a deep breath, and put on the kind of show that is hers and hers alone.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
The four of us exchange worried glances, and guilt begins to gnaw the pit of my stomach.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
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
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
My generation — like the children and the families who survived the most recent fire — knows the fear that gnaws at us at night.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
The parrot hops down to the desk, kicks around some of the mess, and when he finds no pen, he gnaws off a blue-green feather from his back.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Locations included St Andrew's Retail Park where officers found gnawed products on sale, the council said.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Sponsor Nike has even started to dress him in nice clothes, though I’m not sure what to do with that macrame-style warm-up jacket, which looks like it spent a winter getting gnawed by moths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
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
The rope went taut, held for an instant and then parted at the point where Hazel had gnawed it to a thread.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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
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
He has gnawn off all the best mouthfuls already.
From Jacques Bonneval by Anne Manning
Thy pleasant gardens which were round about thee; ... the ravenous wolf hath gnawn at the roots, and the trees can yield thee no fruit.
From The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole
Nor could they find a bundle in a handkerchief, which they would have gnawn through speedily.
From The Open Air by Richard Jefferies
I hopes I'll hit so hard as faither hisself wan day, when I'm grawed.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
Then the chap just catched wan feesh proper, an' St. Neot ate en, an' grawed well by sundown.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
He rambled in his speech a while; then went mute again, wi' a new look in his eyes as though he'd grawed so auld as history in a single night.
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.
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
For Lee, the sting of rejection gave way to a gnawing fear that she would end up struggling for money until she died.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 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
He saw Saeunn, cross-legged on a pile of reindeer hides with the ravenskin pouch in her lap; Hord beside her, gnawing his thumb; Dyrati watching Hord, her face strained.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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
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!
