gaunt

gaunt

adjective \ˈgȯnt, ˈgänt\

Definition of GAUNT

1

: excessively thin and angular <a long gaunt face>

2

: barren, desolate

— gaunt·ly adverb

— gaunt·ness noun

Examples of GAUNT

1. He left the hospital looking tired and gaunt.
2. a gaunt factory on the edge of town

Origin of GAUNT

Middle English

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to GAUNT

Synonyms

cadaverous, emaciated, haggard, skeletal, wasted

Related Words

bony (also boney), lank, lanky, rawboned, scraggy, scrawny, sinewy, skinny, spare, thin; starved, underfed, undernourished; famished, hungry, starving; shriveled (or shrivelled), withered, wizened

Near Antonyms

beefy, brawny, burly, fit, hale, healthy, hearty, husky; chubby, corpulent, fat, fleshy, heavyset, obese, overweight, plump, portly, pudgy, roly-poly, rotund, stocky, thickset, tubby; flabby, soft

See Synonym Discussion at lean

Rhymes with GAUNT

aunt, daunt, flaunt, font, fount, taunt, vaunt, want, wont