Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use grunt in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Grunt means a short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak. Example: “Who just grunted?”

Examples of grunt by meaning

nounAn infantry soldier.

  • The poges stare at the grunts as though the grunts were Hell's Angels at the ballet.1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 39
  • The events described are those encountered by only 160 men, though the adversity recounted is representative of that experienced by all grunts in Vietnam.1984, Charles Robert Anderson, The Grunts, Berkley Books, →ISBN, page xii
  • He's just a grunt!1986, James Cameron, Aliens, spoken by Burke (Paul Reiser)

nounThe amount of power of which a vehicle is capable.

  • With this much grunt, it is surprising that the engine is relatively quiet.2006 February, Torque, page 56
  • The lack of bottom-end grunt presents as a particular problem in hilly terrain where the five-speed manual gearbox really earns its keep.2021 February, The Road Ahead, Brisbane, page 55, column 2

verbTo make a grunt or grunts.

  • The silhouette sharpens and fades as the carving is moved before the flames of the hearth, its maker grunts in perfect imitation of the ancestor - a human-lioness in oestrus.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 186

verbTo break wind; to fart.

  • Who just grunted?

More sentences with grunt

  • He plans to hire somebody to do the grunt work of digging the trenches for the pipes.From the entry grunt work
  • He just grunted in acknowledgment of my greeting.From the entry acknowledgment
  • "Ooph!" Jeff grunted as I elbowed him in the rib.From the entry ooph
  • Fluffbutt let out a grunt as he shooed the feline to reclaim his seat.2016, Martin V. Schulte, edited by Amy Kushner Schulte, Genetic Drift, Schulte Books, →ISBN, page 33. From the entry fluffbutt
  • The creature cursed and grunted as the Justicar hacked his sword into its armored hide.2013, Paul Kidd, White Plume Mountain, →ISBN. From the entry justicar
  • First a distant sound like animals grunting, then a clomp, clomp, clomp like boots approaching.2010, Mark Peter Hughes, “Savages and Kings”, in A Crack in the Sky, Delacorte Press, →ISBN, page 226. From the entry clomp
  • Camp Cupcake was somewhere where the grunts would make a pit stop.2010, Laura Browder, Sascha Pflaeging, When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans, University of North Carolina…. From the entry deployment goggles
  • He grunted and murmured, until his face calmed, the eyelids smoothing into slumber, the brows unfurrowing.2009 June 28, David Gates, “The Postmodern Me”, in New York Times. From the entry unfurrow
  • The goodies drive Holdens and the baddies cruise around in a big, grunting, chocolate-brown Monaro.2008, Janet Fife-Yeomans, Heath: A Family's Tale, page 65. From the entry Aussie
  • Are you speaking English or is that some primitive grunting language?2008, Victoria Forester, The Girl Who Could Fly, page 121. From the entry unga bunga
  • He reared his body up and down with emotion as he played, and often grunted midphrase.2007 June 2, Corey Kilgannon, “A Jazzman’s Farewell Album, All Heart and Soul”, in New York Times. From the entry midphrase
  • That is if English words still have any distinct meaning apart from urban ebonified guttural grunting.2005 February 10, - Prof. Jonez坼, “Running a yellow light”, in misc.legal (Usenet). From the entry ebonify
  • The djoundi with the fat red moustache grunts: "You heard, shepherd: what are you doing here?"2004, Anouar Benmalek, translated by Joanna Kilmartin, The Lovers of Algeria, page 15. From the entry djoundi
  • A wind-sucker achieves the same characteristic neck posture and grunt without holding onto any fixed object.2004, Paul McGreevy, Equine Behavior: A Guide for Veterinarians and Equine Scientists, Edinburgh; Philadelphia, Pa.: W[alter] B[urns]…. From the entry windsucker
  • The annex still stood, and from inside came the grunting sounds of Eskimos and GIs in rut.2002, John Griesemer, No One Thinks of Greenland. From the entry popper
  • Grunting, Roosevelt carried the full milk cans out to the wagon.1997, Harry Turtledove, How Few Remain, page 547. From the entry even Jove nods
  • When Holly was between entertainment jobs, she volunteered for grunt work in anti-war organizations.1990 December 9, Maida Tilchen, “Closer To Near”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 14. From the entry grunt work
  • You can grunt and curse to your heart’s content but you cannot swing your body when chinning.1986, Martin Cohen, The Marine Corps 3X Fitness Program, Boston: Little, Brown, Part 3, p. 75. From the entry chin
  • Overnight he became the best grunt we had, a real killer, a mechanic.1976, Newton Thornburg, Cutter and Bone, Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 250. From the entry mechanic
  • He had seen pigs like Christy powtering in the slops, all grunt and hair.1955, D'Arcy Niland, The Shiralee, page 54. From the entry powter
  • Grunting, he heaved to his feet and looked out the lucilite port at the surface of Saturn.1942 March, Gord Peck, “He Was Poor...But He Was Honest”, in Censored, volume 1, number 3, St. Andrew's College, Aurora, page 7. From the entry plasteel
  • And the second man did the same, and the ground gave another grunt, Mnh!1914, William John Hopkins, “The Digging-Men Story”, in The Doers, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC, page 5. From the entry mnh
  • He grunted as his thrusts increased, grew harder, and just as her crisis ended, he withdrew with a curse.2021 July 20, Jess Michaels, To Protect a Princess, The Passionate Pen, →ISBN. From the entry crisis
  • “Don’t look!” she screamed as I heard her adorably grunt.2021 November 8, Addie Tsai, AKALAC, “To Strap Or Not To Strap — That Is The Question”, in Autostraddle, archived from the original on 08…. From the entry strap
  • “(grunts) Frankie put glass in the piccata and the restaurant comped us, so we got all these chips.2021 September 16, Sarah Naftalis, “The Casino” (6:40 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 3, episode 1, spoken by Sean…. From the entry comp
  • "Son of a nutcracker," he said with a grunt as he caught more from falling into the hole.2017, Danica Winters, Mr. Taken, Harlequin Books, via Internet Archive, →ISBN, page 159. From the entry son of a nutcracker
  • The others in the patrol grunted, turning back to cooking their food, sharpening their sgianan dubha, or scratching their wee balls.2016, Angela Quarles, chapter 3, in Must Love Kilts: A Time Travel Romance (Must Love Series; book 3), [U.S.A.]: Unsealed Room Press, →ISBN. From the entry sgian dubh
  • He picked up the bottle and read the label to examine the percentage of alcohol contained and grunts to himself; 'Um!2013, Gideon C. Mekwunye, “The Hotel”, in Tear Drops, →ISBN, section, page 325. From the entry disvirgin
  • "These modern dances!" he grunted, grabbing his smokes.2012, Stephen King, 11/22/63, page 788. From the entry wiggle
  • 'Too confoundedly poshocracy for my liking,' grunted Philip.2006, The Wentworths: Alias 'un-named', page 256. From the entry poshocracy
  • "'Get off of me, snapperhead!' grunted Rhett."2005, Seth King, Triangles, →ISBN, page 456. From the entry snapperhead
  • Male ducks whistle, make a nasal rhaeb sound, and grunt.1993, C. Harper-Deiters, Jonathan Michael and the perilous flight, →ISBN, page back cover. From the entry rhaeb
  • The flames overwelled and he made a dash for the door where this Kodizia was grunting like a pig.1991, Ositadinma Adeolu Nnanyelugo Olusanya Ike, Surprise Party: An Anthology of Short Stories, page 60. From the entry overwell

Meaning of grunt

  1. noun A short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.
  2. noun The snorting cry of a pig.
  3. noun Any fish of the perciform family Haemulidae.

Full definition of grunt

Questions about grunt in a sentence

How do you use grunt in a sentence?
Grunt is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Who just grunted?”
What is a short sentence with grunt?
“Who just grunted?”
What does grunt mean?
Grunt means a short snorting sound, often to show disapproval, or used as a reply when one is reluctant to speak.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grunt (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use grunt in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/grunt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.