grunt 1 of 2

1
as in grunting
speech that is not clear enough to be understood preoccupied with what he was doing, the mechanic gave only a grunt when I asked when the car would be ready

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work we have an opening in the warehouse if you don't mind doing grunt work

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

grunt

2 of 2

verb

as in to mutter
to speak softly and unclearly was so absorbed with the video game that when asked what he wanted for dinner, he just grunted

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of grunt
Noun
MacDougal made a satisfied grunt, put the phone back in his pocket, and hopped from the Land Rover. Lizz Schumer, People.com, 22 Oct. 2024 An entire shift as fast food grunts, working side-by-side with the other workers and one another, through every rush and every slog. Erik Kain, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
Verb
Which, by now, is bursting with so many grunting, burly men baying for blood that even attentive viewers might have trouble keeping track of who is whose son, or who wants to kill whom. Anupama Chopra, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019 Use Calls Don’t be afraid to grunt and rattle in the pre-rut. Josh Honeycutt, Outdoor Life, 17 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for grunt 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grunt
Noun
  • Industry celebrates Enbridge approval Industry and labor groups celebrated the approval Thursday, especially because Enbridge has contracted with Michaels Construction for the project that is expected to employ Wisconsin laborers.
    Laura Schulte, Journal Sentinel, 15 Nov. 2024
  • According to Boston University's Korean Diaspora Project, when the then-sovereign state was annexed by the U.S. in 1898, plantation owners in Hawaii requiring cheap labor led to an influx of Chinese workers from Canton, as well as laborers from Korea.
    Nina Turner, Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2024
Verb
  • Musicians must become actors playing roles, hollering certain motifs and muttering others.
    Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
  • Inside the hall, the audience took care to still its usual soundtrack of muttering, shuffling, coughing, and snoring.
    Justin Davidson, Curbed, 16 Oct. 2024
Noun
  • Sometime later, a passing pipeline company worker pulled the vehicle from the ditch.
    Ryan J. Foley, Twin Cities, 16 Nov. 2024
  • The company issued a follow-up notification at 10:41 a.m. that workers responded to a vapor release while performing maintenance on equipment.
    Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post, 15 Nov. 2024
Verb
  • The two haggard fighters trade punches throughout the 15th and final round, mumbling promises to each other that there will be no re-match, and the bell rings, both men barely upright, but having survived.
    Brendan Leonard, Outside Online, 5 Nov. 2024
  • But Pippa ignores her friend’s request, sneaks out of the room, and tiptoes downstairs to find Naomi, who is mumbling something about missing jammy dodgers.
    Fletcher Peters, Vulture, 1 Aug. 2024
Noun
  • In a glancing sense, for me, there are whispers of the Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman musical Follies in The Last Showgirl.
    Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 23 Nov. 2024
  • The Kimberley is a truly wild place, where human history is merely a whisper over millennia.
    Erin Florio, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2024
Verb
  • Baraka took the stage, in a pink shirt and white sneakers, and delivered an address that kept the room murmuring and chuckling for more than an hour.
    Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
  • My Method Actor scatters luminous beads of sound design into a writhing body of hooks and vocal lines—sometimes murmured, others chanted, all interspersed with that trademark Yanya flourish that sounds like a sigh rising to a yelp.
    Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 13 Sep. 2024
Verb
  • Fike doesn’t mouth along to the songs, make distinct markers of when one ends and another begins, or even mention the titles of any of them.
    Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 24 Apr. 2024
  • Also present was Dmitri Shostakovich, who had come to New York at Stalin’s behest, in order to mouth propaganda at the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace.
    Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near grunt

Cite this Entry

“Grunt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grunt. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on grunt

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!