grizzled
Americanadjective
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having gray or partly gray hair.
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gray or partly gray.
adjective
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streaked or mixed with grey; grizzly; griseous
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having grey or partly grey hair
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grizzled
Explanation
If someone's hair is streaked with gray, you can describe it as grizzled. Your dad's grizzled beard might need a trim by the end of your two-week camping trip. As well as a good way to talk about the silvery hair (or facial hair) itself, you can also describe a person as grizzled. Before he went totally white-haired, Santa Claus must have been grizzled. This adjective comes from a 14th-century noun, grizzle, which meant both "gray-haired old man" and "gray horse," and probably came from the Old French grisel, "gray."
Vocabulary lists containing grizzled
The Sea of Monsters
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Ancient Wisdom: Synonyms for "Old"
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The Shining
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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.
Brad Pitt is a grizzled racing driver burdened by his past who helps lead a struggling Formula One team to glory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
“Then we went to the far north side of Chicago to a Lithuanian neighborhood to play some grizzled old guys upstairs at the top of an old, smoky bar. They creamed us.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Jacob Elordi, off of an Oscar nomination, is the most obvious ‘Euphoria’ bait, and I hope voters give grizzled veteran Sam Elliott his due for a memorable ‘Landman’ arc.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
Matt Roush says, “I hope voters give grizzled veteran Sam Elliott his due for a memorable ‘Landman’ arc.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
He straightens his shirt, lifts his grizzled chin, and crosses his arms in front of him.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
