gaunt
[gawnt]
- extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.
- bleak, desolate, or grim, as places or things: a gaunt, windswept landscape.
Show More
Origin of gaunt
1400–50; late Middle English, probably < Old French gaunet, jaunet yellowish, derivative of gaune, jaune yellow < Latin galbinus greenish-yellow
Synonyms
See more synonyms for gaunt on Thesaurus.com1. lean, spare, scrawny, lank, angular, rawboned. See thin.
Antonyms
1. stout.
Gaunt
[gawnt, gahnt]
- John of. John of Gaunt.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gaunt
Contemporary Examples
One day I was stunned to see that a particular favorite was a gaunt chain-smoker.
In order to play the gaunt Woodroof, McConaughey went from 182 pounds to 135, subsisting on what he calls “a controlled diet.”
Matthew McConaughey In ‘Dallas Buyers Club’: From Bongos to Oscar ContenderMarlow Stern
October 30, 2013
Moore emerged looking “gaunt and pale” at the Oct. 17 premiere of Margin Call, according to Contact Music.
In her last public appearances, Winehouse was stick thin and gaunt.
Some of Secrest's theories are iffy—she claims the gaunt women of his portraits must be coded consumptives.
Historical Examples
Her long, gaunt fingers pulled and worked at the knots, but all in vain.
Opera Stories from WagnerFlorence Akin
He was tall and gaunt, and his deeply graven face was framed by grizzled hair.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
The other three seniors, attracted by the scene, came back, and waited with Gaunt.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
And Gaunt, who was standing by, and knew it also, telegraphed a significant look to Huntley.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
It was simply a bare, gaunt, famished skeleton, slaying his way along.
The Uncommercial TravellerCharles Dickens
gaunt
- bony and emaciated in appearance
- (of places) bleak or desolate
Show More
Word Origin
C15: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian dialect gand tall lean person
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gaunt
adj.
mid-15c. (as a surname from mid-13c.), from Middle French gant, of uncertain origin; perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. Old Norse gand "a thin stick," also "a tall thin man") and somehow connected with the root of gander. Connection also has been suggested to Old French jaunet "yellowish" [Middle English Dictionary].
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper