grunt

1 speech that is not clear enough to be understood preoccupied with what he was doing, the mechanic gave only a grunt when I asked when the car would be ready Synonyms mumble, grunting, murmur, murmuring, mutter, mutteringRelated Words rumor, undertone, whisper; babble, babbling, blab, blabbing, chatter, chattering, drivel, driveling (or drivelling), gabble, gabbling, jabber, jabbering, maundering, prattle, prattling, rambling

2 a person who does very hard or dull work we have an opening in the warehouse if you don't mind doing grunt work Synonyms dogsbody [chiefly British], drone, drudge, drudger, fag, foot soldier, grub, grubber, slave, laborer, peon, plugger, slavey, slogger, toiler, workerRelated Words workhorse; coolie, serfNear Antonyms goldbrick, shirker; drone, idler, lazybones, loafer, slouch, slug, sluggard

to speak softly and unclearly was so absorbed with the video game that when asked what he wanted for dinner, he just grunted Synonyms chunter [British], mumble, mouth, murmur, mutterRelated Words babble, blab, chatter, drivel, gabble, gibber, jabber, maunder, prattle, ramble; breathe, gasp, pant, whisper; buzzNear Antonyms articulate, enunciateAntonyms speak out, speak up