gnaw
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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)
-
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
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
The zoo said: "During the count, Crispin and Zac, the Zoo's two boisterous Sumatran tiger cubs, quickly turned the register in their enclosure into a toy, dragging it away to gnaw on."
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024
Only this time, instead of letting the anxiety gnaw at her confidence, she accepted its presence, took a deep breath, and put on the kind of show that is hers and hers alone.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
How Myrna would gnaw at her espresso cup rim in envy.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Artificial intelligence could be the boogeyman that gnaws at market share.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
"Hunger is not something you can ignore or put out of your mind, it gnaws at your insides with increasing intensity," she continued, adding that hunger is particularly disruptive for children.
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2025
Yet there’s still something that gnaws at James, a player willing to grab ahold at whatever slight he can as he tries to stay motivated as his NBA career nears completion of a second decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2022
My generation — like the children and the families who survived the most recent fire — knows the fear that gnaws at us at night.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2022
A familiar guilt gnaws at my edges as I think about Tao, about the things he said to me in the temple’s kitchens.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
It is brutal talk, from a softly spoken man, but Brovdi refuses to be "gnawed by pity".
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
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
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
Scott had gnawed silently on a chicken wing while Mom ate her salad, but once she got up and approached the appetizer bar, he dropped the bone onto his plate.
From "George" by Alex Gino
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
The ferret had therefore deliberately gnawn away the hindquarters and so bored a passage.
From The Amateur Poacher by Jefferies, Richard
I was so confoundedly numbed and gnawn, between cold and hunger, that I don't think I could have remembered my father, I don't, faith! before I had recruited.
From The Wanderer (Volume 1 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Burney, Fanny
One thought lies close in her heart gnawn thorough With pain, a weed in a dried-up river, A rust-red share in an empty furrow.
From A Century of Roundels by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
Nor could they find a bundle in a handkerchief, which they would have gnawn through speedily.
From The Open Air by Jefferies, Richard
I hopes I'll hit so hard as faither hisself wan day, when I'm grawed.
From Lying Prophets by Phillpotts, Eden
Danged if I knawed 'en, vurst along, the vace of 'en's that altered: grawed a beard, her hev.
From The Delectable Duchy by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
"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 Phillpotts, Eden
I lay that’s why your darter’s cried o’ nights, then, an’ Chris have grawed sad an’ wisht in her ways, an’ mother have pet the bwoy wan moment an’ been short wi’ un the next.”
From Children of the Mist by Phillpotts, Eden
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 Phillpotts, Eden
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
Healthcare, housing, car payments, groceries and energy bills are the costs really gnawing at wallets, according to an analysis from the trade organization.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 19, 2026
AI could be one, as well: The very thing powering the stock market to records might be gnawing away at Americans’ sense of well being.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2025
Hyacinth nodded but continued gnawing on her pinky.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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.
