grunt

[ gruhnt ]

/ grʌnt /

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See synonyms for: grunt / grunted / grunts on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object)

to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog.

to utter a similar sound.

to grumble, as in discontent.

verb (used with object)

to express with a grunt.

noun

a sound of grunting.

New England Cooking. a dessert, typically of cherries, peaches, or apples sweetened and spiced, and topped with biscuit dough.See also pandowdy.

any food fish of the family Pomadasyidae (Haemulidae), found chiefly in tropical and subtropical seas, that emits grunting sounds.

Slang. a soldier, especially an infantryman.

Slang. a common or unskilled worker; laborer.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of grunt

First recorded before 900; Middle English grunten, Old English grunnettan, frequentative of grunian “to grunt”; cognate with German grunzen, Latin grunnīre

OTHER WORDS FROM grunt

grunt·ing·ly, adverb

Words nearby grunt

Grünewald, grunge, grungy, grunion, Grunitsky, grunt, grunter, grunting ox, gruntled, grunt work, grup

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use grunt in a sentence

During this time, bull elk vie for the attention of cows, piercing the mountain air with their signature bugles, grunts, chuckles, and screams.
The Beginner's Guide to Hunting|Ian Fohrman|October 30, 2020|Outside Online
As Amanda Stent, an NLP expert for financial news and information service Bloomberg, explained, technologies like BERT are important because they remove a lot of the grunt work required to train a language model from scratch.
Why teaching A.I. to read is a lifelong endeavor|jonathanvanian2015|October 27, 2020|Fortune
That’s when they saw there was an opportunity here to build a tool to track all of this information in one place and connect it to Salesforce to automate a lot of this grunt work.
Scratchpad announces $3.6M seed to put work space on top of Salesforce|Ron Miller|October 6, 2020|TechCrunch
The good news is that developing a successful digital marketing strategy is possible, and it doesn’t have to take grunt work or cost you more than a cup of coffee a day.
How to navigate social media marketing trends|Arjun Rai|October 6, 2020|Search Engine Watch

When Palantir built a new software platform, Foundry, in 2016, the company cut costs by automating much of the grunt work and said it reduced time to set up customers from months to days.
Palantir shares are up big on first day of trading|Verne Kopytoff|September 30, 2020|Fortune
The grunt takes a hard look at our interpreter, rotates his M16 and opens the vehicle door, motioning for us to get out.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley|Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The grunt asks us where we are going and we respond, “to the Korengal.”
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley|Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As a grunt, he lectured a high-ranking officer in protest of Marines who attacked a Vietnamese child.
Crime Fighter’s Dilemma: My Country or My Family?|Moral Courage|April 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fortunately, the Food Sense App for the iPhone does the grunt work for you.
3 Ways to Track Your Food and Feel Healthy|Ari Meisel|January 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went.
Come On, ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Can Handle More Violence|Sujay Kumar|November 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The noise of his slumbers culminated in a sudden, choking grunt, and abruptly ceased.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
You must imagine this sound as something between a grunt and a groan, that the estimable lady gave vent to whenever put out.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood
His next line—'To grunt and sweat under a weary life'—resembles ll.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems|Geoffrey Chaucer
Up went the monster with a grunt, and a peculiar rigidity of body, which evidently betokened horror at his situation.
The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands|R.M. Ballantyne
After they had passed, a lull fell on the scene, which was soon broken by the grunt and snort of a rhinoceros.
Kari the Elephant|Dhan Gopal Mukerji

British Dictionary definitions for grunt

grunt

/ (ɡrʌnt) /

verb

(intr) (esp of pigs and some other animals) to emit a low short gruff noise

(when tr, may take a clause as object) to express something grufflyhe grunted his answer

noun

the characteristic low short gruff noise of pigs, etc, or a similar sound, as of disgust

any of various mainly tropical marine sciaenid fishes, such as Haemulon macrostomum (Spanish grunt), that utter a grunting sound when caught

US slang an infantry soldier or US Marine, esp in the Vietnam War

Derived forms of grunt

gruntingly, adverb

Word Origin for grunt

Old English grunnettan, probably of imitative origin; compare Old High German grunnizōn, grunni moaning, Latin grunnīre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

grunt

Origin of grunt

OTHER WORDS FROM grunt

Words nearby grunt

Words related to grunt

How to use grunt in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for grunt

Derived forms of grunt

Word Origin for grunt