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
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
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
I would rather gnaw off my own fingers than eat a bird.
From "Liar & Spy" by Rebecca Stead
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
The creature lifts its head, nearly dainty in scale, and contentedly gnaws a mouthful of ferns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
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
She’s the size of a tiger, and she gnaws on a bone big as she is.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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
But like a million or so others in the UK, she succumbed to a disease that gnawed at her personality and cognition until it consumed her ability to function at all.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
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
He sucked hard on his straw, gnawed a trio of fries.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
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
Now the scorned unlucky lad Rousing from his pillow gnawn Mans his heart and deep and glad Drinks the valiant air of dawn.
From Last Poems by A. E. Housman by A. E. (Alfred Edward) Housman
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 ferret had therefore deliberately gnawn away the hindquarters and so bored a passage.
From The Amateur Poacher by Richard Jefferies
On the east side a strange section of gray lava and ash is gnawn into caves.
From At Last by Charles Kingsley
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
"It hurted my arm 'tween the shoulder an' elbow a lil bit at first, but I've grawed used to it now."
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
Iss fay, I've grawed to b'lieve truly our Joan was saved, spite of all.
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.
I’m grawed a auld, cold-hearted woman, wi’ a grey hair here an’ theer a’ready.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
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
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
For anyone in Caroline's situation, simply seeing a parent with a pram can be painful, the source of a gnawing envy.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 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
It’s like a gnawing, the tug of a rope wrapped around the end of my esophagus.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
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!
