gnaw
Americanverb (used with object)
-
gnaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gnawed,
past
-
grawed,
past participle
-
gnawn,
past participle (Archaic)
-
gnawing
present participle
-
to bite or chew on, especially persistently.
-
to wear away or remove by persistent biting or nibbling.
-
to form or make by so doing.
to gnaw a hole through the wall.
-
to waste or wear away; corrode; erode.
-
to trouble or torment by constant annoyance, worry, etc.; vex; plague.
verb (used without object)
-
gnaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gnawed,
past
-
grawed,
past participle
-
gnawn,
past participle (Archaic)
-
gnawing
present participle
-
to bite or chew persistently.
The spaniel gnawed happily on a bone.
-
to cause corrosion.
The acid gnaws at the metal.
-
to cause an effect resembling corrosion.
Her mistake gnawed at her conscience.
verb
-
to bite (at) or chew (upon) constantly so as to wear away little by little
-
(tr) to form by gnawing
to gnaw a hole
-
to cause erosion of (something)
-
to cause constant distress or anxiety (to)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
gnawernoun
-
outgnawverb (used with object)
-
undergnawverb (used with object)
-
gnawableadjective
-
gnawingadjective
-
ungnawedadjective
-
gnawinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
gnawsimple
-
gnawssimple
-
have gnawnperfect
-
have grawedperfect
-
has gnawnperfect
-
has grawedperfect
-
am gnawingprogressive
-
are gnawingprogressive
-
is gnawingprogressive
-
have been gnawingperfect progressive
-
has been gnawingperfect progressive
Past
-
gnawedsimple
-
had gnawnperfect
-
had grawedperfect
-
was gnawingprogressive
-
were gnawingprogressive
-
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 hadn’t forced a takeaway in three weeks, a drought that was beginning to gnaw at the players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2024
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
And those spectacular surface catacombs and arches will collapse to leave extensive areas of submerged ice that will then rise up under their own buoyancy to gnaw away at the berg's edges.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2024
After swallowing several times, the bear put the jar down and turned back to gnaw his haunch of meat, heedless of Farder Coram and Lyra, it seemed; but then he spoke again.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
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
The creature lifts its head, nearly dainty in scale, and contentedly gnaws a mouthful of ferns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2024
Dobbins was injured last year in a preseason game — a fact that still gnaws at him — and only now is he starting to look healthy enough to be a standout running back again.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 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
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
But like a million or so others in the UK, she succumbed to a disease that gnawed at her personality and cognition until it consumed her ability to function at all.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
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 on the meat around the pig’s feet and sucked the bones until the salty, slippery membrane slid out and swished around my tongue.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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
Nor could they find a bundle in a handkerchief, which they would have gnawn through speedily.
From The Open Air by Richard Jefferies
This ruddy giant was secretly gnawn by misanthropy and disgust of life.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
On the east side a strange section of gray lava and ash is gnawn into caves.
From At Last by Charles Kingsley
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
Danged if I knawed 'en, vurst along, the vace of 'en's that altered: grawed a beard, her hev.
From The Delectable Duchy by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
I’m weary of you; I don’t fear you worse than a blind worm; but such as you are, you’ve grawed against me since my luck comed.
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
Pearls—pearls—pearls is on Tom, an' the sea creatures gives what they can, 'cause they knaw as he'd a grawed to be a man an' theer master.
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
"Then my work's the harder; but I'll find en, s'elp me God, even if us be grawed gray afore we meet."
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
You slice it the wrong way and, instead of a tender, juicy bite, you’re left gnawing on something that tastes like a rubber band.
From Salon ● May 22, 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
Nothing prepared me for the gnawing unease of pivoting from saving to spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
The road not taken is gnawing at her soul.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2025
I tried gnawing my way out, but the strands were made of some kind of plastic, as hard as wire.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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.
