grunt
Americanverb (used without object)
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grunts,
present (3rd person singular)
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grunted,
past participle, past
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grunting
present participle
-
to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog.
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to utter a similar sound.
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to grumble, as in discontent.
verb (used with object)
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grunts,
present (3rd person singular)
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grunted,
past participle, past
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grunting
present participle
noun
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grunts
plural
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a sound of grunting.
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New England Cooking. a dessert, typically of cherries, peaches, or apples sweetened and spiced, and topped with biscuit dough.
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any food fish of the family Pomadasyidae (Haemulidae), found chiefly in tropical and subtropical seas, that emits grunting sounds.
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Slang. a soldier, especially an infantryman.
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Slang. a common or unskilled worker; laborer.
verb
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(intr) (esp of pigs and some other animals) to emit a low short gruff noise
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(when tr, may take a clause as object) to express something gruffly
he grunted his answer
noun
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the characteristic low short gruff noise of pigs, etc, or a similar sound, as of disgust
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any of various mainly tropical marine sciaenid fishes, such as Haemulon macrostomum ( Spanish grunt ), that utter a grunting sound when caught
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slang an infantry soldier or US Marine, esp in the Vietnam War
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gruntsimple
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gruntssimple
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have gruntedperfect
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has gruntedperfect
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am gruntingprogressive
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are gruntingprogressive
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is gruntingprogressive
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have been gruntingperfect progressive
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has been gruntingperfect progressive
Past
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gruntedsimple
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had gruntedperfect
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was gruntingprogressive
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were gruntingprogressive
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had been gruntingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grunt
First recorded before 900; Middle English grunten, Old English grunnettan, frequentative of grunian “to grunt”; cognate with German grunzen, Latin grunnīre
Explanation
If your younger brother is particularly grouchy, he might simply grunt in answer to your question about whose turn it is to take out the garbage. A grunt is a short, deep sound. If you think about the noise a pig makes, you'll have a good idea of what a grunt sounds like. It's an animal-like sound that people make when they're inarticulate, angry, sullen, or lazy — or sometimes if they're hurt or afraid. Pigs and other animals grunt too, no matter what their moods may be. The Old English root word, grunnettan, most likely came from the sound of a grunt.
Vocabulary lists containing grunt
Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
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Shiloh
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Kira-Kira
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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.
See Examples For:
But unlike last time, Bath found a response as their reinforcements from the bench added grunt.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
More often, his grunt work involves riding on the front to shield Pogacar from the wind, setting the pace on the hardest mountain stages, and emptying the tank until he can hardly turn the pedals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Their approach is: “If AI wants to do my grunt work, have at it. If AI wants to do our expert tasks, that will only happen over my dead body.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Bath's forward grunt got them over the line against Tigers, with prop Thomas du Toit scoring a hat-trick.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
Before I could draw breath again, he fell to the ground with a loud grunt.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Hedgehogs may be communicating with more than just snuffles, grunts and snorts, according to scientists who have discovered the animal's hearing range.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
The wacky 1994 film where Robert De Niro grunts his way through playing the Monster?
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
Of course, the Patriots won their six Super Bowls with Tom Brady and Grumpy Lobster Boat Captain Bill Belichick, who built a dynastic partnership before it fizzled in a fog of grunts and perceived slights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
Scam centre staff run the "whole gamut", from expendable grunts held in slave-like conditions to skilled programmers working for high salaries, said veteran Myanmar expert David Scott Mathieson, a former Human Rights Watch monitor.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
Roz began to hear a chorus of deep grunts.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
He grunted as West and three men transferred him from the small plane to the truck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
As the video from the event shows, he threw his back into it, taxing himself enough that he grunted from the exertion.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2025
Sitting in the gallery, Peterson shook his head and grunted in disagreement during Brill’s argument.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
My father grunted in disgust at the clearly stupid question.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 23, 2023
He grunted and groaned and glared at Zeke as he approached, but the metal wouldn’t budge.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
It’s the grunting culmination of a love affair that began when Higdon, a retired cancer surgeon, encountered a line of yaks in Nepal not far from Mt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
It’s why Carson Zone is at the gym every Monday and Friday, grunting into weighted hip thrusts and pushing through heavy staggered lunges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
This year, with Svitolina serving at 2-1 down in the first set, Sabalenka was called for hindrance by umpire Louise Azemar Engzell for grunting during a rally.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
With the match on serve, Sabalenka was hit with a hindrance call for grunting, triggering a long video review and boos.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
As we sat around our campfire that evening, eating a scratch meal from tins, I heard the distant, grunting roar of a lion.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
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.
