gristly
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gristly
A Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at gristle, -y 1
Explanation
Gristly means rubbery or full of cartilage. The hardest part of your trip to rural China might be graciously accepting and attempting to chew the gristly meat your hosts offer you. The Old English word that spawned gristly is gristle, literally meaning "cartilage." When meat in particular is hard to chew, it's gristly. This adjective sounds like grisly (no t), which describes something that is horrifying. Although it can also be horrifying, save gristly to describe that chewy mystery meat you try and choke down to be polite.
Vocabulary lists containing gristly
Commonly Confused Words, List 3
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Commonly Confused Words, List 5
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Commonly Confused Words, List 11
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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:
His “White Noise” is a credible adaptation and a notably faithful one — what an earlier Baumbach character might call the filet of DeLillo’s bristling, gristly book.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2022
Amid this chewy, gristly spectacle, Snyder’s own tongue remains firmly in cheek: From the brassy accompanying cover of “Viva Las Vegas” to the bright, satirical gloss of the visuals, he’s soliciting more smirks than screams.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2021
Most in this price range are just gristly meat or pork doctored with liquid smoke.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 3, 2020
Nothing is more unsatisfactory than handing your dog a tasty treat only to have it disappear down their gullet without even a moment of savoring the jus clinging to that succulent gristly end of beef.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2019
Its gristly nose was subsiding into its skull hole.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
And it had something beautiful too, Brazil’s team of all the No 10s broken like a butterfly on a wheel by the gristlier, more industrial football of Italy’s champions-in-waiting.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2020
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
