- past participle of draw.
drawn
Americanverb
adjective
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tense; haggard.
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eviscerated, as a fowl.
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Glassmaking.
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of or relating to the stem of a drinking glass that has been formed by stretching from a small mass of molten metal left at the base of the bowl of the vessel.
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of or relating to glass that is drawn over a series of rollers as it comes from the furnace.
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adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of drawn
First recorded in 1150–1200, for the adjective
Explanation
Drawn describes the look of someone who is tired, overworked, or ill. People will worry about you if your face looks drawn every morning because you stay up so late doing homework. The adjective drawn comes from the Old English verb dragan, which means to pull or to drag. Dragan is also the root for the artistic sense of the verb "draw," but drawn doesn't describe art. It can mean pulled closed, however. The drawn drapes keep your room so dark that it's always dark as night in there, which is good for sleeping, but bad when you have to get up early for school.
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.
They were drawn to actors with "shortish, cheeky, funny" qualities for the role, he said.
From BBC • Jul. 3, 2026
A "Great American State Fair" in the capital designed as a celebration of the country's birthday has drawn sparse crowds and widespread mockery for its empty booths.
From Barron's • Jul. 3, 2026
“She’s such a sort of undeniable positive energy that she just radiates all the time, which is so compelling and why people are so drawn to her.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2026
Physical markets have weakened and inventories have drawn much less than expected, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 3, 2026
She pointed at the half-finished symbol on the screen and at the one drawn in marker on Coal’s backpack.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
