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• haggard
  haggard

  adjective

  having a gaunt, wasted, or exhausted appearance, as from prolonged suffering, exertion, or anxiety; worn.
• Haggard
  Haggard

  noun

  (Sir) H(enry) Rider, 1856–1925, English novelist.

haggard

¹ American  

[hag-erd] / ˈhæg ərd /

adjective

1. having a gaunt, wasted, or exhausted appearance, as from prolonged suffering, exertion, or anxiety; worn.

   the haggard faces of the tired troops.

   Synonyms:

   hollow-eyed, drawn, emaciated

   Antonyms:

   robust

2. Archaic. wild; wild-looking.

   haggard eyes.

3. Falconry. (especially of a hawk caught after it has attained adult plumage) untamed.

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noun

1. Falconry. a wild or untamed hawk caught after it has assumed adult plumage.

Haggard ² American  

[hag-erd] / ˈhæg ərd /

noun

1. (Sir) H(enry) Rider, 1856–1925, English novelist.

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haggard ¹ British  

/ ˈhæɡəd /

adjective

1. careworn or gaunt, as from lack of sleep, anxiety, or starvation

2. wild or unruly

3. (of a hawk) having reached maturity in the wild before being caught

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noun

1. falconry a hawk that has reached maturity before being caught Compare eyas passage hawk

Haggard ² British  

/ ˈhæɡəd /

noun

1. Sir ( Henry ) Rider . 1856–1925, British author of romantic adventure stories, including King Solomon's Mines (1885)

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haggard ³ British  

/ ˈhæɡərd /

noun

1. (in Ireland and the Isle of Man) an enclosure beside a farmhouse in which crops are stored

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Other Word Forms

• haggardness
  noun
• haggardly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of haggard

First recorded in 1560–70; originally, “wild female hawk”; see hag ¹, -ard

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Explanation

Someone who is haggard looks exhausted and worn out, exactly how you'd expect someone who's been lost at sea for days to look. A haggard appearance is usually the result of a long, harrowing ordeal, like getting lost in the woods or being stranded in the woods for days. An emotional ordeal, like losing a loved one, can also give someone a haggard appearance if they forget to eat, sleep, and take care of themselves. Whatever the ordeal, it will make the person look absolutely awful — pale, gaunt, disheveled, exhausted with dark circles under their eyes and wild, unruly hair.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

haggard Haggard

I have heard from haggard, decrepit millennials that it used to be different, that it used to be grungy and alternative.

From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026

At the end of the film, Matt Damon’s haggard Odysseus sails toward the unknown, accepting that he doesn’t deserve the comfort of a king.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

But in 2024, Venezuela produced only about one percent of global crude, its industry left haggard by years of underinvestment, mismanagement and US sanctions.

From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026

“Caesar had now been performing for eight years,” Mr. Margolick writes, “and, thin and haggard, wore every week of it . . . it had happened in spurts rather than in increments.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

“You may send the first testee in,” he informed Eldon Rosen, who now looked more haggard than ever.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

Either way, Haggard sounds like he believes what he’s saying, regardless of whether that’s true, because of the time and effort he spent working out the song.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

“We have DJs who play everything from Dwight Yoakam to Bruce Springsteen and Merle Haggard to Chappell Roan,” said Chase Manhattan, regional director of entertainment at Desert 5 Spot.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

Among his favourites were the works John Buchan and H Rider Haggard, but Forsyth adored Ernest Hemingway's book on bullfighters, Death in the Afternoon.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2025

It later was home to live productions of Neil Simon plays and touring musicals, and in the 1970s and ’80s, it hosted concerts by Merle Haggard and Count Basie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2024

To avert this catastrophe a large, elaborately framed photograph was duly sent from Sydney and formally presented by Mr. Haggard.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers

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