adj, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A sustained instance of growls or guttural noises.

   "The growling from her stomach told us she was hungry."

2. 2
   a gruff or angry utterance (suggestive of the growling of an animal) wordnet
3. 3
   The technique of producing a low-pitched growling or rumbling sound on a wind instrument.
4. 4
   the sound of growling (as made by animals) wordnet

Verb

1. 1
   present participle and gerund of growl form-of, gerund, participle, present

Adjective

1. 1
   Producing a growl. not-comparable

   "The growling dog frightened him."

Synonyms

All synonyms

beefingboomboomingcomplainingcrabbycranky

Example

More examples

"My stomach started growling right there in the meeting. It was embarrassing."

Related phrases

low pitchedwind instrument

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