Gnawing

//ˈnɔː.ɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The process by which something is gnawed.

    "the gnawings of mice"

  2. 2
    A sensation of being gnawed.

    "The spirit of slavery raves under tormenting gnawings, and casts about in blind phrenzy for something to ease, or even to mock them."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of gnaw form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    severe or intense

    "Engleitner found the constant gnawing hunger harder and harder to bear. When the rations eventually increased again and the prisoners were given stew, it did not make much difference to Engleitner."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ablativeabradantabrasiveacheachingacute

Example

More examples

"A cat was tearing at the door, and there was a sound of gnawing rats beneath the hearth-stone."

Etymology

From Middle English gnawynge; equivalent to gnaw + -ing.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.