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
For the infinite had already begun to gnaw at the roots of Western thought, thanks to Zeno of Elea, a philosopher reckoned by his contemporaries to be the most annoying man in the West.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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
He’s a good physical comedian, especially when he gnaws a breath mint like a bunny.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
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
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
Despite his obvious good looks and small-town charm, something suspicious gnawed at me.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 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
It hadn’t just been gnawed on—it had been completely ripped in two.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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
The ferret had therefore deliberately gnawn away the hindquarters and so bored a passage.
From The Amateur Poacher by Richard Jefferies
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
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
Yet her denunciations seemed prophetic: or rather were feeble descriptions of the excruciating pangs by which I am hourly gnawn!
From Anna St. Ives by Thomas Holcroft
"Then my work's the harder; but I'll find en, s'elp me God, even if us be grawed gray afore we meet."
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
An' from bein' a puny cheel I grawed a bonny wan arter dipping.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
An' so you alias have, Polly, since you was a grawed gal; an' God knaws it.
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
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
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
Jealousy had got hold of him: she stung him; but the sting was salutary: it gave him respite from the gnawing fang of melancholy.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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!
