having a gaunt, wasted, or exhausted appearance, as from prolonged suffering, exertion, or anxiety; worn.
the haggard faces of the tired troops.
Archaic. wild; wild-looking.
haggard eyes.
Falconry. (especially of a hawk caught after it has attained adult plumage) untamed.
careworn or gaunt, as from lack of sleep, anxiety, or starvation
wild or unruly
(of a hawk) having reached maturity in the wild before being caught
First recorded in 1560–70; originally, “wild female hawk”; see hag 1, -ard
Someone who is haggard looks exhausted and worn out, exactly how you'd expect someone who's been lost at sea for days to look. A haggard appearance is usually the result of a long, harrowing ordeal, like getting lost in the woods or being stranded in the woods for days. An emotional ordeal, like losing a loved one, can also give someone a haggard appearance if they forget to eat, sleep, and take care of themselves. Whatever the ordeal, it will make the person look absolutely awful — pale, gaunt, disheveled, exhausted with dark circles under their eyes and wild, unruly hair.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the end of the film, Matt Damon’s haggard Odysseus sails toward the unknown, accepting that he doesn’t deserve the comfort of a king.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
But in 2024, Venezuela produced only about one percent of global crude, its industry left haggard by years of underinvestment, mismanagement and US sanctions.
From Barron's ● Mar. 1, 2026
It would not have been my first choice for something to discard—I’d have nominated the haggard horse face that stares back at me daily when I shave—but nobody asked me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
"I did the one pair of wheels - I will say they're absolutely haggard," he laughed.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2025
I could only imagine how many haggard and depraved eyes were regarding me hungrily from behind the closed shutters.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
“We have DJs who play everything from Dwight Yoakam to Bruce Springsteen and Merle Haggard to Chappell Roan,” said Chase Manhattan, regional director of entertainment at Desert 5 Spot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
The “Bakersfield Sound” was further cemented by another one-time member of Owens’ band, Merle Haggard, who played with the Buckaroos briefly in the 1960s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2025
Among his favourites were the works John Buchan and H Rider Haggard, but Forsyth adored Ernest Hemingway's book on bullfighters, Death in the Afternoon.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2025
Further, Haggard wrote, Caldier did not have a “credible reason” for releasing the names and could have made her point without doing so.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
Haggard with illness, and bowed down with shame, the473 dying governor received the Indian envoys in the council-hall of the province, where he was never again to assume his seat of office.
From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Parkman, Francis
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.
