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Haggard has its origins in falconry, the ancient sport of hunting with a trained bird of prey. The birds used in falconry were not bred in captivity until very recently; traditionally, falconers trained wild birds that were either taken from the nest when quite young or trapped as adults. A bird trapped as an adult is termed a haggard, from the synonymous Middle French word hagard. Such a bird being notoriously wild and difficult to train, haggard was easily extended to apply to a “wild” and intractable person. Eventually, the word came to express the way the human face looks when a person is exhausted, anxious, or terrified. Today, the most common meaning of haggard is “gaunt” or “worn.”
Examples of haggard in a Sentence
Justin Birnbaum, Sportico.com, 6 Mar. 2026
As Derya and Aziz’s hypocrisies, as upper-class intellectuals, are increasingly brought to the fore, Namal and Biçer’s conversational performances grow haggard and strained.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
No one’s going to want to watch a haggard perimenopausal woman who’s badly lit.
—Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 15 Jan. 2026
Now, the film is a downright classic, centering on three haggard witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy) who go on a hilarious misadventure while trying to remain young forever.
—Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for haggard
Cite this Entry
“Haggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/haggard. Accessed 9 Mar. 2026.
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