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.

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

Frasier was eating those devil eggs so hard that I thought he was going to mess around and gnaw off his index finger.

From Salon • Sep. 19, 2023

Beneath the dark canopy of leaves and smoke the fire laid hold on the forest and began to gnaw.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding