Synonyms of haggard

haggard

adjective

ˈha-gərd 

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• gaunt
• skeletal
• emaciated
• starved
• starving
• bony
• hungry
• cadaverous
• thin
• skinny
• scrawny
• wasted
• lanky
• lank
• underfed
• undernourished
• sinewy
• rawboned
• wizened
• scraggy
• famished
• withered
• spare
• shriveled

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of haggard

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

In addition to skiing excursions, the winter sports menu includes such trying activities as snow shoe walking, ice diving, and dog sledding—great backdrops in front of which drunken or haggard travelers can snip at each other. — Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Sep. 2025

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

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