as in to erode
to consume or wear away gradually
time has gnawed that author's reputation to the point where he rates little more than a footnote
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Recent Examples of gnaw
Rats damage infrastructure, contaminate food, and can start fires by gnawing through wires.
—
Laura Paddison, CNN, 31 Jan. 2025
Despite all of this, Musa felt a gnawing emptiness in his life.
—David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2025
By highlighting Eunice’s role as a parent, Salles pushes viewers toward considering the mundanity of living under a dictatorship—and the gnawing nightmare of lacking control in the face of obvious evil.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Jan. 2025
During the pandemic, the soaring cost of essentials like food, fuel and rent only deepened the country's widespread precarity — a gnawing sense of financial insecurity that has left tens of millions of Americans vulnerable to job losses, medical problems and even modest economic dips.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 17 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gnaw
Laura Paddison, CNN, 31 Jan. 2025
Despite all of this, Musa felt a gnawing emptiness in his life.
—David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2025
By highlighting Eunice’s role as a parent, Salles pushes viewers toward considering the mundanity of living under a dictatorship—and the gnawing nightmare of lacking control in the face of obvious evil.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Jan. 2025
During the pandemic, the soaring cost of essentials like food, fuel and rent only deepened the country's widespread precarity — a gnawing sense of financial insecurity that has left tens of millions of Americans vulnerable to job losses, medical problems and even modest economic dips.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 17 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gnaw
Cite this Entry
“Gnaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gnaw. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
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