as in gaunt
suffering extreme weight loss as a result of hunger or disease
the rescued hiker appeared haggard and worn after a week in the woods
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Recent Examples of haggard
There’s a slight Francis Bacon aspect to them, poetic but at the same time incontrovertibly real, depicting every distorted limb, every haggard face and emaciated body, every wound and scar.
—
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2025
Nobody could have given this song so much haggard soul.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
His cheeks were hollow, and a grizzled beard, which hadn’t seen a proper shave in weeks, made his face look older and all the more haggard.
—Lee Chang-Dong, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2024
Ralph Fiennes’ Odysseus, back from the Trojan War, washes up on the shores of Ithaca after 20 years away, haggard and unrecognizable.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for haggard
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Feb. 2025
Nobody could have given this song so much haggard soul.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2025
His cheeks were hollow, and a grizzled beard, which hadn’t seen a proper shave in weeks, made his face look older and all the more haggard.
—Lee Chang-Dong, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2024
Ralph Fiennes’ Odysseus, back from the Trojan War, washes up on the shores of Ithaca after 20 years away, haggard and unrecognizable.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for haggard
Recent Examples of Synonyms for haggard
Adjective
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And in a third, the gaunt 30-year-old killer flexes, purses his lips and squints.—
Michael Ruiz,
FOXNews.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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The apparently recent footage showed two hostages -- Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel -- looking gaunt and exhausted while being driven around Gaza City.—
WAFAA SHURAFA,
Arkansas Online,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Global energy firms slashed thousands of jobs after the 2020 oil bust, leaving a skeletal workforce.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Sep. 2025
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Its inner space is dense with filaments of tubulin and actin, another protein that plays a similar skeletal role.—
Veronique Greenwood,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Haggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/haggard. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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