gnaw
Americanverb (used with object)
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gnaws,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gnawed,
past
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grawed,
past participle
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gnawn,
past participle (Archaic)
-
gnawing
present participle
-
to bite or chew on, especially persistently.
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to wear away or remove by persistent biting or nibbling.
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to form or make by so doing.
to gnaw a hole through the wall.
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to waste or wear away; corrode; erode.
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to trouble or torment by constant annoyance, worry, etc.; vex; plague.
verb (used without object)
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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.
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to cause corrosion.
The acid gnaws at the metal.
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to cause an effect resembling corrosion.
Her mistake gnawed at her conscience.
verb
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to bite (at) or chew (upon) constantly so as to wear away little by little
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(tr) to form by gnawing
to gnaw a hole
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to cause erosion of (something)
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to cause constant distress or anxiety (to)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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gnawernoun
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outgnawverb (used with object)
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undergnawverb (used with object)
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gnawableadjective
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gnawingadjective
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ungnawedadjective
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gnawinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gnawsimple
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gnawssimple
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have gnawnperfect
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have grawedperfect
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has gnawnperfect
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has grawedperfect
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am gnawingprogressive
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are gnawingprogressive
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is gnawingprogressive
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have been gnawingperfect progressive
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has been gnawingperfect progressive
Past
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gnawedsimple
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had gnawnperfect
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had grawedperfect
-
was gnawingprogressive
-
were gnawingprogressive
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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
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Where the Red Fern Grows
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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:
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 gnaw everything except metal. Because of the mice, we had to eat all food products except canned food quickly, or else the mice would destroy them all."
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Outside, beavers gnaw at the vegetation around the chilly waters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 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
She reluctantly took the cookie and sat down to gnaw on it.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
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
He’s a good physical comedian, especially when he gnaws a breath mint like a bunny.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023
And then something occurs to me, something that hits me in the gut and gnaws at my insides.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Sponsor Nike has even started to dress him in nice clothes, though I’m not sure what to do with that macrame-style warm-up jacket, which looks like it spent a winter getting gnawed by moths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
It is brutal talk, from a softly spoken man, but Brovdi refuses to be "gnawed by pity".
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
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
Three fears had gnawed at Lazlo, back in his old life.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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
He has gnawn off all the best mouthfuls already.
From Jacques Bonneval by Anne Manning
The bones of the cutlets were decorated with pink frills- and yesterday he had gnawn ham from the bone!
From Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
Now the scorned unlucky lad Rousing from his pillow gnawn Mans his heart and deep and glad Drinks the valiant air of dawn.
From Last Poems by A. E. Housman by A. E. (Alfred Edward) Housman
An' so you alias have, Polly, since you was a grawed gal; an' God knaws it.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
An' from bein' a puny cheel I grawed a bonny wan arter dipping.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
He rambled in his speech a while; then went mute again, wi' a new look in his eyes as though he'd grawed so auld as history in a single night.
From Lying Prophets by Eden Phillpotts
I’m grawed a auld, cold-hearted woman, wi’ a grey hair here an’ theer a’ready.”
From Children of the Mist by Eden Phillpotts
The “Marsh King” got up and said, “I allus telled yer yer must graw wool; but when you’ve grawed it, yer mustn’t sit on it, yer must sell it.”
From Tennyson and His Friends by Various
For Lee, the sting of rejection gave way to a gnawing fear that she would end up struggling for money until she died.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
But that teaches another more cautionary lesson about collecting nemeses: Salieri never figured out how to channel his gnawing envy into motivation.
From Salon ● May 16, 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
Since our grief is less of a ready-made commodity lately, we can reorient it around ourselves, a little safer and more sovereign from the gnawing public gaze.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
Yet the real reason why he didn’t step to Jimmy was gnawing at him.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
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