as in gruesome
informal
causing great mental or emotional pain
gut-wrenching decisions the novel's gut-wrenching opening scene
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Recent Examples of gut-wrenching
The multi-tiered approach makes what happens all that more gut-wrenching, poignant and powerful.
—
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
The Alaska State Troopers Active Missing Persons Bulletins webpage shows the faces of more than 150 missing people, each with a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking story.
—Bjorn Dihle, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2025
This novel, set in Australia at the outset of World War II, is gut-wrenching.
—The Know, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2025
Charlotte Lawrence loves a good, gut-wrenching, sad song.
—Leah Lu, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gut-wrenching
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
The Alaska State Troopers Active Missing Persons Bulletins webpage shows the faces of more than 150 missing people, each with a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking story.
—Bjorn Dihle, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2025
This novel, set in Australia at the outset of World War II, is gut-wrenching.
—The Know, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2025
Charlotte Lawrence loves a good, gut-wrenching, sad song.
—Leah Lu, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gut-wrenching
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gut-wrenching
Adjective
-
The roommate of a man who was stabbed inside his Baltimore home is speaking about the gruesome crime in a WJZ Investigates exclusive.—
Mike Hellgren,
CBS News,
23 Jan. 2026
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Instead of picturing that exercise as long and gruesome, try breaking it up.—
Avery Newmark,
AJC.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
With the partial restoration of internet access, people inside the country and others who have left in recent days shared videos and stories with ABC News that shows the horrific nature of the regime's suppression of the protests.—
Somayeh Malekian,
ABC News,
27 Jan. 2026
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Syria’s horrific civil war killed more than 500,000 people over a 14-year period starting in 2011.—
Paul Iddon,
Forbes.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Special mention must be made of the in-room minibars, which are terrific, and so extensive that they are contained not within a single small fridge but an entire chest of drawers.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
8 Jan. 2026
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Lenert made a terrific save on a solid strike by JSerra midfielder Carter Biondolillo, with Lenert diving to his left to make the crucial stop in the second half.—
Steve Fryer,
Oc Register,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Doncic had 33 points and 11 assists, and the Lakers erased a 15-point deficit in the final seven minutes of a 116-110 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night in the star guard’s second visit to Dallas since his shocking trade to the Lakers almost a calendar year ago.—
Oc Register,
Oc Register,
25 Jan. 2026
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The relentless flow of appalling events eventually overloads the nervous system; the rising tide of brutality, which once seemed shocking, comes to seem unremarkable.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Sets like Hobbiton and Rivendell (a home for some elves) are breathtaking, the makeup and prosthetics of the orcs still terrifying, and the costumes ethereal and otherworldly.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
23 Jan. 2026
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And the monsters are truly terrifying.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Over the weekend, we were reminded of an even more horrifying football ritual following the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
5 Jan. 2026
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But this super drug has horrifying consequences.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
5 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Its Blackwell architecture sets the standard for raw performance, and its software ecosystem with CUDA remains a formidable competitive edge.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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But even a full-bodied brass section and some formidable multi-part harmonies can’t stop the song from fading into a 18-track lineup of anemic lounge-funk flips with near-uniform tempos.—
Hattie Lindert,
Pitchfork,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
But that depiction was picked apart by a vast array of online onlookers, from law enforcement experts to ordinary Instagram users, some of whom replayed the videos frame by frame and zoomed in to show the episode in frightening detail.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
25 Jan. 2026
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The news this week that CPW employees are facing a variety of threats from radical elements in both groups of Coloradans strikes us as ironic sad — and frightening.—
The Denver Post Editorial Board,
Denver Post,
24 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gut-wrenching.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gut-wrenching. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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