grunt

1 of 2

verb

grunted; grunting; grunts

intransitive verb

: to utter a grunt

transitive verb

: to utter with a grunt
grunter noun

grunt

2 of 2

noun

plural grunts
1
a
: the deep short sound characteristic of a hog
b
: a similar sound
2
[from the noise it makes when taken from the water] : any of a family (Haemulidae synonym Pomadasyidae) of chiefly tropical marine bony fishes
3
: a dessert made by dropping biscuit dough on top of boiling berries and steaming
blueberry grunt
4
a
: a U.S. army or marine foot soldier especially in the Vietnam War
b
: one who does routine unglamorous work
often used attributively
grunt work

Illustration of grunt

Illustration of grunt
  • grunt 2

Examples of grunt in a Sentence

Verb The workers were grunting with effort as they lifted the heavy furniture. She grunted a few words in reply, then turned and walked away. Noun the grunt of a pig I could hear the grunts of the movers as they lifted the heavy furniture. He answered her with a grunt. He was a grunt who worked his way up to become an officer. He's just a grunt in the attorney's office.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
But just as your eyes begin to glaze over watching Wahlberg and his co-stars sweating and grunting their way across the jungle, someone comes along to save the movie. Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024 As visiting royal Karl Lagerfeld looked on, Alice caught the baby, which grunted violently. Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 28 Feb. 2024 Sasquatch Sunset made headlines last month as one of the weirdest films to premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival — a strange and completely dialogue-free story about a grunting family of Bigfoots. Devan Coggan, EW.com, 13 Feb. 2024 Sasquatch Sunset Photo: Courtesy Square Peg Jesse Eisenberg also features in this zany gem, from David and Nathan Zellner, as a hairy, grunting Sasquatch—the mythical creature also known as Bigfoot—opposite the always excellent Riley Keough. Radhika Seth, Vogue, 16 Jan. 2024 Cassowaries communicate through various sounds, from hissing to whistling to grunting to even booming. Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024 Onlookers grunt disapprovingly, angry at the noise. Sophie Neiman, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Dec. 2023 Symptoms may include poor feeding, irritability, temperature changes, jaundice, grunting breaths and abnormal movements. Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 31 Dec. 2023 The film opens not with a mandible but with a trapezius, a flashback in black-and-white of the Von Erich patriarch, Fritz (Holt McCallany), in the midst of a match, grunting and colliding with another body in a spotlighted ring. Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2023
Noun
As for grunt, Lady A is powered by twin diesel Caterpillar engines capable of producing more than 1,800 horses. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 15 Mar. 2024 And the Creature, previously nonverbal save for a few grunts here and there, now speaks! Jessica Wang, EW.com, 10 Feb. 2024 Cole Sprouse's performance is comedic and broad Sprouse’s performance is more comedic, with glances and grunts and groans. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 7 Feb. 2024 There, flitting between the trees, is a humanoid creature with a plasma cannon and an invisibility cloak that proves more formidable than any guerilla grunt. EW.com, 13 Nov. 2023 Alton is also open to AI tools that reduce some of the most physically straining work in creating game characters — the grunts, shouts and other sounds of characters in battle, as well as the movements of jumping, striking, falling and dying required in motion-capture scenes. Matt O'Brien, Fortune, 19 Feb. 2024 Thanks to all that grunt, the top-of-the-line super sedan will be able to sprint from zero to 62 mph in just 2.8 seconds and hit a top speed of 155 mph. Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 8 Sep. 2023 Cacophony filled the humid air: the mad squawking of parrots, the grunts of emus, the occasional roar of a lion. Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2024 As that noise quiets, others intensify: the sounds of bodies shuffling in the bushes and the grunts of physical exertion. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'grunt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English, from Old English grunnettan, frequentative of grunian, of imitative origin

Noun

derivative of grunt entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

1553, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of grunt was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near grunt

Cite this Entry

“Grunt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grunt. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

grunt

noun
ˈgrənt
1
a
: the deep short sound made by a hog
b
: a similar sound
2
: any of numerous marine fishes related to the snappers
grunt verb
grunter noun

More from Merriam-Webster on grunt

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