chew
Americanverb (used with object)
-
chews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chewed,
past participle, past
-
chewing
present participle
-
to crush or grind with the teeth; masticate.
-
to crush, damage, injure, etc., as if by chewing (often followed byup ).
The faulty paper feeder chewed the letters up.
-
to make by or as if by chewing.
The puppy chewed a hole in my slipper.
-
to meditate on; consider deliberately (often followed byover ).
He chewed the problem over in his mind.
verb (used without object)
-
chews,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chewed,
past participle, past
-
chewing
present participle
-
to perform the act of crushing or grinding with the teeth.
-
Informal. to chew tobacco.
-
to meditate.
noun
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chews
plural
-
an act or instance of chewing.
-
something chewed or intended for chewing.
a chew of tobacco; taffy chews.
verb phrase
idioms
verb
-
to work the jaws and teeth in order to grind (food); masticate
-
to bite repeatedly
she chewed her nails anxiously
-
(intr) to use chewing tobacco
-
slang
-
to argue over a point
-
to talk idly; gossip
-
noun
-
the act of chewing
-
something that is chewed
a chew of tobacco
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
chewsimple
-
chewssimple
-
have chewedperfect
-
has chewedperfect
-
am chewingprogressive
-
are chewingprogressive
-
is chewingprogressive
-
have been chewingperfect progressive
-
has been chewingperfect progressive
Past
-
chewedsimple
-
had chewedperfect
-
was chewingprogressive
-
were chewingprogressive
-
had been chewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chew
before 1000; Middle English chewen, Old English cēowan; cognate with Old High German kiuwan ( German kauen )
Explanation
When you chew, you use your teeth to grind up food before you swallow it. It can be pretty unpleasant to watch your brother chew his pizza with his mouth open. Usually when people chew, they chew up a bite of food or chew on a candy bar. You can also chew your nails or chew your lower lip — you're not actually eating something, but just using your teeth to gnaw or bite. You can also use the word chew figuratively, to mean "think or mull over." It comes from an Old English root, ceowan, "to gnaw or chew."
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.
See Examples For:
"They give it to the babies, who chew on it themselves and spit out the solids".
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
The note finishes by reiterating that bubble-like environments can chew through macro risk, “at least for some amount of time.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
But I’m blown away by how “It Ends” reaches into the abyss of contemporary living and pulls out something tangible for us to chew on.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
There’s so much to chew on in David Alvarado’s portrait of life, art and activism that “American Pachuco” plays like a joyful challenge to those searching for their own voice or meaning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
They chew their cud and moo into their phones until the herd shifts gears and rolls forward again.
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
A normal peptide is a linear chain, and the gut chews it apart from the loose ends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Some are born to sing the blues, as Perry once observed — just not Perry himself, who chews his way through this corny come-on like an overserved uncle at the Hard Rock Cafe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Huge front teeth bite down on the cane, and the creature chews.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
At 94, "Star Trek" legend William Shatner chews the scenery in a Raisin Bran ad that leans into fiber jokes, introducing himself as a character named "Will Shat."
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
The one that does people’s hairdos is old Mama Lo, who’s only just got the two teeth, one upstairs and one down, so she chews crossways.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
He is not alone in having then been chewed up and spat out at Real Madrid.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
In a second phase of the study, the researchers simulated how the body might process lead if children mouthed or chewed on clothing.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 2, 2026
Now, they say, that extra money will likely get chewed up by higher gas prices.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026
Some of the crucial work done at Bell Labs might now seem mundane: for example, how to fabricate sheathing so undersea cables wouldn’t be chewed through by Toredo worms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
‘Because I’m going to use them for something stronger’ She chewed her lip.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
More than two billion cups of coffee are drunk each day and that's before we start talking about cola, energy drinks, plus some chocolate, chewing gum and sports supplements, which also contain the chemical.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Car radios were still uncommon, but one afternoon, the airborne commander spent 20 minutes chewing out a Sunday driver he saw weaving and dodging through a traffic jam in Queens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
New offensive coordinator Sean Mannion has arrived from Green Bay to make the offense slightly more stirring than a capybara gently chewing on grass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
And after several weeks of 90-degree days, I had become devoted to grating tomatoes, an activity especially suited to weather in which chewing can seem like an unreasonable demand.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
He was sitting on the rug chewing on his plastic pretzel.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
