gnaw
Americanverb (used with object)
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gnaws,
present (3rd person singular)
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gnawed,
past
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grawed,
past participle
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gnawn,
past participle (Archaic)
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gnawing
present participle
-
to bite or chew on, especially persistently.
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to wear away or remove by persistent biting or nibbling.
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to form or make by so doing.
to gnaw a hole through the wall.
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to waste or wear away; corrode; erode.
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to trouble or torment by constant annoyance, worry, etc.; vex; plague.
verb (used without object)
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gnaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gnawed,
past
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grawed,
past participle
-
gnawn,
past participle (Archaic)
-
gnawing
present participle
-
to bite or chew persistently.
The spaniel gnawed happily on a bone.
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to cause corrosion.
The acid gnaws at the metal.
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to cause an effect resembling corrosion.
Her mistake gnawed at her conscience.
verb
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to bite (at) or chew (upon) constantly so as to wear away little by little
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(tr) to form by gnawing
to gnaw a hole
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to cause erosion of (something)
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to cause constant distress or anxiety (to)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gnawernoun
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outgnawverb (used with object)
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undergnawverb (used with object)
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gnawableadjective
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gnawingadjective
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ungnawedadjective
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gnawinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gnawsimple
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gnawssimple
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have gnawnperfect
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have grawedperfect
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has gnawnperfect
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has grawedperfect
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am gnawingprogressive
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are gnawingprogressive
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is gnawingprogressive
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have been gnawingperfect progressive
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has been gnawingperfect progressive
Past
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gnawedsimple
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had gnawnperfect
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had grawedperfect
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was gnawingprogressive
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were gnawingprogressive
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had been gnawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gnaw
before 1000; Middle English gnawen, Old English gnagen; cognate with German nagen, Old Norse gnāga
Explanation
To gnaw is to bite or chew. Your favorite food might be corn on the cob, because you love to gnaw along each row of kernels. To gnaw also means to deteriorate or wear away as if by gnawing with the teeth. In Arches National Park, the weather has gnawed away at the rocks creating beautiful formations like arches, bridges, and balanced rocks. In this sense, to gnaw can be used even more figuratively. Something might gnaw at the back of your mind — something you were supposed to do, although now you can't quite remember what it was.
Vocabulary lists containing gnaw
The Silent Treatment: Words Plagued by Silent Letters
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Unit 1: Telling Details
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Where the Red Fern Grows
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
What’s missing, and might well gnaw at a viewer, is whether regenerative farming can feed the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
"They gnaw everything except metal. Because of the mice, we had to eat all food products except canned food quickly, or else the mice would destroy them all."
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
While beetles gnaw away and burrow through the phloem under the trees' bark, the much smaller, flightless adelgid sucks out the trees' fluids and leaves behind a toxic saliva.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2024
Only this time, instead of letting the anxiety gnaw at her confidence, she accepted its presence, took a deep breath, and put on the kind of show that is hers and hers alone.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
Soon they got the furniture burning merrily, and Nailer cut slices of ham for them to gnaw on.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Artificial intelligence could be the boogeyman that gnaws at market share.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
One man gnaws at a fleshless bone, clearly desperate for food.
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2025
Yet there’s still something that gnaws at James, a player willing to grab ahold at whatever slight he can as he tries to stay motivated as his NBA career nears completion of a second decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2022
My generation — like the children and the families who survived the most recent fire — knows the fear that gnaws at us at night.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
She’s the size of a tiger, and she gnaws on a bone big as she is.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
It is brutal talk, from a softly spoken man, but Brovdi refuses to be "gnawed by pity".
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
At the same time, concerns that gnawed at investors before the beginning of the war haven’t disappeared, either.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
When she was a vegan-curious teenager, it gnawed at her that giving up animal products could mean sacrificing sports.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2024
She introduced herself and asked him the questions that had gnawed at her for years: Was there a second snake?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2024
I gnawed at the dried sausage, savoring the saliva it produced.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
As he wrote, “the body of the charter has been unfortunately gnawn by rats” — a comment that carries grim symbolism today, as we take up the task the rats left unfinished.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2012
Thy pleasant gardens which were round about thee;…the ravenous wolf hath gnawn at the roots, and the trees can yield thee no fruit.
From Chronicle of the Cid by Robert Southey
Now the scorned unlucky lad Rousing from his pillow gnawn Mans his heart and deep and glad Drinks the valiant air of dawn.
From Last Poems by A. E. Housman by A. E. (Alfred Edward) Housman
But the wolf has devoured my sow, Mine, mine, mine; My chickens are killed by the cats, My onions are gnawn by the rats; Good-bye to my dowry now.
From Basque Legends With an Essay on the Basque Language by Wentworth Webster
On the east side a strange section of gray lava and ash is gnawn into caves.
From At Last by Charles Kingsley
Time was when we thought alike touching the bwoy; now we doan’t; ’cause your knowledge of un hasn’t grawed past the point wheer he downed us, an’ mine has.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
The “Marsh King” got up and said, “I allus telled yer yer must graw wool; but when you’ve grawed it, yer mustn’t sit on it, yer must sell it.”
From Tennyson and His Friends by Various
Then er calmed down, an' the back of en grawed humpetty an' his head failed a bit forrard an' he sat strokin' of the dog.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
Iss fay, I've grawed to b'lieve truly our Joan was saved, spite of all.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
I lay that’s why your darter’s cried o’ nights, then, an’ Chris have grawed sad an’ wisht in her ways, an’ mother have pet the bwoy wan moment an’ been short wi’ un the next.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
But that teaches another more cautionary lesson about collecting nemeses: Salieri never figured out how to channel his gnawing envy into motivation.
From Salon ● May 16, 2026
Citrus greening disease is caused by a bacterial infection that is delivered by the gnawing of the Asian citrus psyllid.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
Since our grief is less of a ready-made commodity lately, we can reorient it around ourselves, a little safer and more sovereign from the gnawing public gaze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Nothing prepared me for the gnawing unease of pivoting from saving to spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
“But his dæmon kept gnawing at her leg,” said Asta.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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.
