gaunt

adjective

ˈgȯnt 

ˈgänt

1

: excessively thin and angular

a long gaunt face

2

: barren, desolate

gauntly adverb

gauntness noun

Synonyms

• cadaverous
• emaciated
• haggard
• skeletal
• wasted

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

Stripped of their leaves and bark, trees become gaunt skeletons. —Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 31 Oct. 2024

He has been hospitalized while in prison -- once due to a hunger strike -- and his gaunt appearance during a 2023 video conference court hearing prompted Zelenskyy to summon the Georgian ambassador in Kyiv to complain. —David Brennan, ABC News, 26 Oct. 2024

As the Sukkot meal began, Bitton received a string of grotesque photographs on his phone: closeups of a gaunt Palestinian man with sharp cheekbones, his mouth open, a plum-size bullet wound above the left eye. —David Remnick, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2024

After two years of being locked up and systematically abused by Arkham’s squad of guards led by Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), Arthur has become an unsmiling, even more gaunt shell of his former self. —Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

gaunt

adjective

ˈgȯnt 

ˈgänt

1

: being thin and bony (as from hunger or suffering)

2

: grim and forbidding : barren, desolate

gaunt, leafless trees

gauntly adverb

gauntness noun