Definition of 'grunt'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense grunts
, present participle grunting
, past tense, past participle grunted
1. verb
If you grunt, you make a low sound, especially because you are annoyed or not interested in something.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word Frequency
grunt in British English
verb
2. (when tr, may take a clause as object)
to express something gruffly
he grunted his answer
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
gruntingly (ˈgruntingly) adverb
Word origin
Old English grunnettan, probably of imitative origin; compare Old High German grunnizōn, grunni moaning, Latin grunnīreWord Frequency
grunt in American English
verb intransitive
verb transitive
3.
to express by grunting
to grunt one's disapproval
noun
4.
the sound made in grunting
5.
any of a family (Haemulidae) of marine percoid fishes that grunt when removed from water
adjective
7.
of, for, or done by a grunt
grunt work
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
ME grunten < OE grunnettan (akin to Ger grunzen), freq. of grunian, to grunt < IE *gru-, echoic > L grunnireWord Frequency
grunt in American English
(ɡrʌnt)
intransitive verb
1.
to utter the deep, guttural sound characteristic of a hog
2.
to utter a similar sound
3.
to grumble, as in discontent
transitive verb
4.
to express with a grunt
noun
5.
a sound of grunting
6. New England Cookery
7.
any food fish of the family Pomadasyidae (Haemulidae), found chiefly in tropical
and subtropical seas, that emits grunting sounds
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
gruntingly adverb
Word origin
[bef. 900; ME grunten,, OE grunnettan, freq. of grunian to grunt; c. G grunzen, L grunnīre]Examples of 'grunt' in a sentence
grunt
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grunt
Types of fishQuick word challenge
Quiz Review
Question: 1
-
Score: 0 / 5
Which type of fish am I?
an estuarine and rock fish, Girella tricuspidata, of Australia, usually black or dark brown in colour: a kind of blackfish
Which type of fish am I?
any small tropical marine percoid fish of the genera Chaetodon, Chelmon, etc, that has a deep flattened brightly coloured or strikingly marked body and brushlike teeth: family Chaetodontidae
Which type of fish am I?
a small porgy, Lagodon rhomboides, occurring off the SE North American coast of the Atlantic
Which type of fish am I?
any of several gadoid food fishes of the northern coastal genus Molva, esp M. molva, having an elongated body with long fins
Which type of fish am I?
any of various gadoid food fishes, esp the bib (also called whiting pout)
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grunt
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In other languages
grunt
British English: grunt
VERB /ɡrʌnt/
If you grunt, you make a low sound, especially because you are annoyed or not interested in something.
The driver grunted, convinced that I was wrong.
Browse alphabetically
grunt
Related terms of
grunt
Source
Definition of grunt from the Collins English Dictionary
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