Word.ws English Dictionary

gnawing

/ˈnɔː.ɪŋ/US/ˈnɔ.ɪŋ/

gnawing adjective: severe or intense. Also the present participle and gerund of gnaw.

Adjective

gnawing (comparative more gnawing, superlative most gnawing)

  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.2013, Bernhard Rammerstorfer, Unbroken Will

Noun

gnawing (plural gnawings)

  1. The process by which something is gnawed.
    • the gnawings of mice
  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.1836, American Anti-Slavery Society, The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4
    • "If I made them suffer the pains of exile, I would not let them endure also the gnawings of starvation.1893, Marietta Holley, Samantha at the World's Fair

Also used as

gnawing is also the present participle and gerund of gnaw.

Forms of gnawing

Adjective
comparativemore gnawing
superlativemost gnawing
Noun
pluralgnawings

Origin of gnawing

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

Phrases with gnawing

Words that rhyme with gnawing

Questions about gnawing

What does gnawing mean?
Gnawing means severe or intense.
What part of speech is gnawing?
Gnawing can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce gnawing?
Gnawing is pronounced /ˈnɔː.ɪŋ/.

Words near gnawing in the dictionary

  1. gnawed someone's vitals
  2. gnawer
  3. gnawers
  4. gnawest
  5. gnaweth
  6. gnawing
  7. gnawing someone's vitals
  8. gnawingly
  9. gnawings
  10. gnawn
  11. gnawproof

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gnawing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gnawing.wav.

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