gaunt

adjective

ˈgȯnt How to pronounce gaunt (audio)
ˈgänt
1
: excessively thin and angular
a long gaunt face
2
gauntly adverb
gauntness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for gaunt

lean, spare, lank, lanky, gaunt, rawboned, scrawny, skinny mean thin because of an absence of excess flesh.

lean stresses lack of fat and of curving contours.

a lean racehorse

spare suggests leanness from abstemious living or constant exercise.

the gymnast's spare figure

lank implies tallness as well as leanness.

the lank legs of the heron

lanky suggests awkwardness and loose-jointedness as well as thinness.

a lanky youth, all arms and legs

gaunt implies marked thinness or emaciation as from overwork or suffering.

a prisoner's gaunt face

rawboned suggests a large ungainly build without implying undernourishment.

a rawboned farmer

scrawny and skinny imply an extreme leanness that suggests deficient strength and vitality.

a scrawny chicken
skinny street urchins

Examples of gaunt in a Sentence

He left the hospital looking tired and gaunt. a gaunt factory on the edge of town
Recent Examples on the Web In video footage, Navalny — clad in a black prison uniform — appeared even more frail than in other recent appearances, with hair cropped close and eyes blazing out of a gaunt face. Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2024 Even when Navalny was a gaunt prisoner, Putin seemed afraid of him. The Editors, National Review, 16 Feb. 2024 In recent photos shown to Monitor reporters, cows in the Jordan Valley are gaunt, their ribs protruding. Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Jan. 2024 The face that looked back at her in the rearview mirror was gaunt, her skin pale around glassy hazel eyes. Glenn E. Rice, Kansas City Star, 25 Jan. 2024 Hundreds of people lined up, clutching containers hoping for some food from the vats bubbling with pasta and soup, many of them children looking gaunt and hungry. Zoe Magee, ABC News, 18 Jan. 2024 In the same 1922 drypoint, he is crowded onto a narrow tram seat with another man who sucks his thumb and a gaunt woman who stares at the ground, her eyes almost shut with exhaustion. Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2023 The leading men are, likewise, a study in contrasts: Fiennes’s Macbeth is a hulking, lugubrious presence, whereas Tennant’s is a gaunt, energetic bundle of angst. Houman Barekat, New York Times, 19 Dec. 2023 As the police officer’s bodycam gets closer to the bed, his flashlight reveals that the corpse’s face is not only severely gaunt, but also distinctly blue with glitter around the eye sockets. Addie Morfoot, Variety, 8 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gaunt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of gaunt was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near gaunt

Cite this Entry

“Gaunt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaunt. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

gaunt

adjective
ˈgȯnt How to pronounce gaunt (audio)
ˈgänt
1
: being thin and bony (as from hunger or suffering)
2
: grim and forbidding : barren, desolate
gaunt, leafless trees
gauntly adverb
gauntness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on gaunt

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