- thin and bony; hollow-eyed and haggard, as from great hunger or age; emaciated
- looking grim, forbidding, or desolate
Origin of gaunt
Middle English gawnte, earlier gant, slender, thin, gaunt from uncertain or unknown; perhaps
adjective
The definition of gaunt is looking thin, bony or sickly.
An example of gaunt is the appearance of someone who hasn’t eaten enough for many weeks.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"gaunt." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt>.
APA Style
gaunt. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt
gaunt
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"gaunt." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt>.
APA Style
gaunt. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt
gaunt
adjective
gaunt·er, gaunt·est- Thin or emaciated: “Her smile took up ever more of her increasingly gaunt face” ( Lindsey Crittenden ) See Synonyms at lean2.
- Bleak or desolate: “She walked along fast … scared of … the few shadowy people and the old gaunt houses with their wide inky doorways” ( John Dos Passos )
Origin of gaunt
Middle English perhaps from Old French gant possibly of Scandinavian originRelated Forms:
- gaunt′ly
adverb
- gaunt′ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"gaunt." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt>.
APA Style
gaunt. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt
Adjective
(comparative gaunter, superlative gauntest)
Origin
From Middle English gawnt, gawnte (“lean, slender”), from Old French, probably from a Scandinavian source, related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff, stick”), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- (“to beat, hit, drive”). Cognate with Icelandic gandur (“magic staff”), Norwegian gand (“tall pointed stick; tall, thin man”), Danish gand, gan, Norwegian gana (“cut-off tree limbs”), Bavarian Gunten (“a kind of wedge or peg”). Related also to Old English gūþ (“battle”), Latin dēfendō (“ward off, defend”). Compare also Swedish dialectal gank (“a lean, emaciated horse”).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"gaunt." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt>.
APA Style
gaunt. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Gaunt
Sentence Examples
- He walked with a slight limp and his gaunt frame was gangly.
- Her words died on her lips as she took in the deep worry lines and gaunt features of the man before her.
- Here died John of Gaunt in 1399.
- Sirian appeared gaunt from his stay in the dungeon but otherwise clean and well-dressed.
- Kris sat beside her. Hannah's skin had gone from pale to gray, and her features looked gaunt. He couldn't help thinking Katie wouldn't survive a week down here if Hannah was suffering so badly after a day. He touched Hannah's hair, revolted when a handful came off in his hand.
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