gaunt
1 Americannoun
adjective
-
bony and emaciated in appearance
-
(of places) bleak or desolate
Related Words
See thin.
Other Word Forms
- gauntly adverb
- gauntness noun
Etymology
Origin of gaunt
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, probably from Old French gaunet, jaunet “yellowish,” derivative of gaune, jaune “yellow,” from Latin galbinus “greenish-yellow”
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.
As Alpha waits for the results of blood tests, she is startled by the sudden appearance of a gaunt, jittery stranger in their apartment.
From Los Angeles Times
Two others were already in the back seat, a soldier and a woman with a gaunt gray face.
From Literature
A woman gaunt as her cattle appeared in the door.
From Literature
Instead of the stocky young man he’d fought less than a moon ago, he was facing a gaunt shadow ..
From Literature
The earl of Arundel’s tomb expresses the grim realities beneath the era’s facade of chivalry: Above, he is depicted resplendent in full armor; below, as a gaunt cadaver.
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.
