gnaw at

phrasal verb

gnawed at; gnawing at; gnaws at

: to be a source of worry or concern to (someone)

This problem has been gnawing at me day and night.

She says she's fine, but I can see that something is gnawing at her.

Examples of gnaw at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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The anxiety gnawing at Europe and the West can be alleviated only by offering ethnic majorities a future in which their identities—their myths of ancestry, communal consciousness, and traditions—persist as majority (or at least plurality) elements of society. —

Eric Kaufmann, Foreign Affairs, 13 Aug. 2018 Island life is energetically rendered, and there’s an appreciation for details too — from the splinters on the giant tree an industrial beaver (Matt Berry) gnaws at daily to the fine hairs on cantankerous grizzly bear Thorn (Mark Hamill). —

Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2024 Their success, coupled with the rise of the far left, which also has anti-immigration stances, has found a way to gnaw at Scholz’s support and has ultimately forced the chancellor to act, especially on migration. —

Sebastian Shukla, CNN, 21 Sep. 2024 At first thought, Lewellen says the choice has not been gnawing at him. —

Sam Gringlas, NPR, 11 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for gnaw at