gaunt

¹

[ gawnt ]

adjective

, gaunt·er, gaunt·est.

1. extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.

   Synonyms: rawboned, angular, lank, scrawny, spare, lean

   Antonyms: stout

2. bleak, desolate, or grim, as places or things:

   a gaunt, windswept landscape.

Gaunt

²

[ gawnt, gahnt ]

noun

1. John of. John of Gaunt.

gaunt

/ ɡɔːnt /

adjective

1. bony and emaciated in appearance
2. (of places) bleak or desolate

Derived Forms

• ˈgauntness, noun
• ˈgauntly, adverb

Other Words From

• gauntly adverb
• gauntness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gaunt¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of gaunt¹

C15: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian dialect gand tall lean person

Synonym Study

See thin.

Example Sentences

The socialite’s demeanor stood in stark contrast to earlier appearances in court, when she looked gaunt and disheveled and when her team accused jail guards of mistreating her.

From The Daily Beast

You start losing all this weight and looking gaunt and frail.

From The Daily Beast

One day I was stunned to see that a particular favorite was a gaunt chain-smoker.

From The Daily Beast

In order to play the gaunt Woodroof, McConaughey went from 182 pounds to 135, subsisting on what he calls “a controlled diet.”

From The Daily Beast

Hashi came in first, wearing a white kufi and looking gaunt, reportedly from a hunger strike.

From The Daily Beast

In the small living room where we last met, he seemed more gaunt than wiry, his ear bandaged after a biopsy.

From The Daily Beast

Charred beams and blackened walls showed stark and gaunt in the glow of a smoldering mass of wreckage.

From Project Gutenberg

The Seneschal stood with blanched face and gaping mouth, his fire all turned to ashes before the passion of this gaunt man.

From Project Gutenberg

A gaunt, hard-featured domestic completed this interesting family, and she was uncommon too.

From Project Gutenberg

The little name sounded so incongruous; it did not suit the big gaunt woman who had almost a touch of the monstrous in her.

From Project Gutenberg

He was tall and gaunt, with an unnaturally white face and a mass of hair almost as white in color, though not from age.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• angular
• emaciated
• thin