Question 1 · Quick check
gaunt
CEFRC2
/ɡɔːnt/
adjective
Türkçe translations
Translating…
In plain English
- 01
adjective
Very thin, often because of illness or hunger.
- 02
adjective
Extra detailOf a place or thing: bleak, desolate.
Examples
I recoiled when I saw how gaunt she had become.
The gaunt policeman had a bolt-action rifle slung over one shoulder.
At a glance
Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale
- Senses
- 5
- Parts of speech
- 1
- Citations
- 5
- Synonyms
- 5
Deep Dive
adjective
Extra meaningsUnhealthily thin, as from hunger or illness: drawn, emaciated, haggard.
Angular, bony, and lean.
With a positive or neutral connotation: not overweight; lean, slender, slim.
More examples
In contextHanging from the beam, / Slowly swaying (such the law), / Gaunt the shadow on your green, / Shenandoah!
[H]e presented for the first time to Mannering his tall, gaunt, awkward, boney figure, attired in a threadbare suit of black, […]
VVhen once he [a horse]'s broken, feed him full and high: / Indulge his Grovvth, and his gaunt ſides ſupply.
Related
Quick test
Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.
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Nearby
Origin
adjective
From Middle English gaunt, gawnt, gawnte, gant (“lean, slender, thin, gaunt”); further etymology uncertain. Speculated origins include: * from a North Germanic/Scandinavian source related to Old Norse gandr (“magic staff; stick”) (the ancestor of Icelandic gandur (“magic staff”) and Norwegian gand (“thin, pointed stick; tall, thin man”)), from Proto-Germanic *gandaz (“stick; staff”). Other suggested Germanic cognates include Swedish gank (“(dialectal) lean, emaciated horse”); Danish gand, gan, Norwegian gana (“cut-off tree limbs”); Bavarian Gunten (“kind of peg or wedge”). These words have all been connected to *gunþiz (“battle”) or its ultimate source, but this comparison presents semantic...