gut-wrenching

adjective

gut-wrench·​ing ˈgət-ˌren-chiŋ 

: causing mental or emotional anguish

Examples of gut-wrenching in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After celebrating the breakaway goal, Egypt’s players quickly got that gut-wrenching, sinking feeling that comes with a VAR review. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 8 July 2026

Its portrayal of overwhelming, gut-wrenching grief could easily leave its characters cynical about love. — Dana Feldman, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Savannah stepped back from her role on Today at the time, sharing a number of gut-wrenching pleas to the public with the hope of finding her mother. — Meg Walters, InStyle, 8 June 2026

Success after so much failure—gut-wrenching letdowns after episodes of Odyssean temptation to fleeting belief, too many to count—is almost an ordeal. — Austin Elias-De Jesus, New Yorker, 3 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gut-wrenching

• entrenching
• clenching
• drenching
• quenching
• trenching
• wrenching