GAUNT: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for GAUNT?

Need another word that means the same as “gaunt”? Find 41 synonyms and 30 related words for “gaunt” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Gaunt” are: cadaverous, emaciated, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted, drawn, skin-and-bones, skinny, spindly, thin, spare, bony, angular, lank, lean, hollow-eyed, lantern-jawed, scrawny, scraggy, shrivelled, withered, raddled, bleak, stark, barren, bare, drab, desolate, dreary, dismal, gloomy, sombre, forlorn, grim, stern, harsh, forbidding, uninviting, unwelcoming, cheerless

Gaunt as an Adjective

Definitions of "Gaunt" as an adjective

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “gaunt” as an adjective can have the following definitions:

• (of a building or place) grim or desolate in appearance.
• Very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold.
• (of a person) lean and haggard, especially because of suffering, hunger, or age.

Synonyms of "Gaunt" as an adjective (41 Words)

angular	Having angles or an angular shape. Her angular face.
bare	Just barely adequate or within a lower limit. Leaf fall had left the trees bare.
barren	(of a tree or plant) not producing fruit or seed. Barren lands.
bleak	(of a situation) not hopeful or encouraging; unlikely to have a favourable outcome. A bleak midwinter s day.
bony	Composed of or containing bone. He held up his bony fingers.
cadaverous	Very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold. He was gaunt and cadaverous.
cheerless	Gloomy; depressing. Something cheerless about the room.
desolate	(of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness. A low desolate wail.
dismal	Causing a mood of gloom or depression. The dismal weather made the late afternoon seem like evening.
drab	Lacking brightness or interest; drearily dull. Drab faded curtains.
drawn	(of a person) looking strained from illness, exhaustion, anxiety, or pain. Cathy was pale and drawn and she looked tired out.
dreary	Depressingly dull and bleak or repetitive. The dreary round of working eating and trying to sleep.
emaciated	Abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food. She was so emaciated she could hardly stand.
forbidding	Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments. A forbidding scowl.
forlorn	Pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely. A forlorn cause.
gloomy	Filled with melancholy and despondency. Gloomy at the thought of what he had to face.
grim	Not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty. She was looking grim.
haggard	Showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering. Her face was drawn and haggard from sleeplessness.
harsh	Of textures that are rough to the touch or substances consisting of relatively large particles. Had harsh words.
hollow-eyed	Characteristic of the bony face of a cadaver.
lank	Of a person lanky. The man had lank brown greasy hair.
lantern-jawed	Having a protruding jaw giving the face a gaunt appearance.
lean	Lacking excess flesh. A lean budget.
pinched	Sounding as if the nose were pinched. Her pinched toes in her pointed shoes were killing her.
raddled	Used until no longer useful. She s beginning to look quite raddled.
scraggy	Being very thin. Scraggy cliffs.
scrawny	Inferior in size or quality. Scrawny cattle.
shrivelled	Wrinkled and shrunken, especially as a result of loss of moisture or old age. A handful of shrivelled leaves.
skeletal	Of or relating to or forming or attached to a skeleton. A small skeletal boy clothed in rags.
skin-and-bones	Consisting of or made up of bone.
skinny	Giving or spending with reluctance. A child with skinny freckled legs.
sombre	Grave or even gloomy in character. He looked at her with a sombre expression.
spare	Additional to what is required for ordinary use. A spare diet.
spindly	Long or tall and thin. Spindly arms and legs.
stark	Unpleasantly or sharply clear. He came running back in stark terror.
stern	Of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor forbidding in aspect. Stern measures to restrict vehicle growth.
thin	Relatively thin in consistency or low in density not viscous. The thin cold air of the mountains.
uninviting	Not tempting. The house was dark and uninviting.
unwelcoming	(of a person or their expression) not friendly towards a guest or new arrival. Jean crept into her cold and unwelcoming bed.
wasted	(of an organ or body part) diminished in size or strength as a result of disease or injury or lack of use. Kept life in his wasted frame only by grim concentration.
withered	(used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture. Withered vines.

Usage Examples of "Gaunt" as an adjective

• A nightmare population of gaunt men and skeletal boys.
• A tall, gaunt woman in black.
• Gaunt tenement blocks.

Associations of "Gaunt" (30 Words)

bony	Of or like bone. A bony shad fillet.
cadaverous	Of or relating to a cadaver or corpse. He was gaunt and cadaverous.
careworn	Showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering. A careworn expression.
drawn	(of a person) looking strained from illness, exhaustion, anxiety, or pain. Her face was drawn and haggard from sleeplessness.
drooping	Having branches or flower heads that bend downward. Lilacs with drooping panicles of fragrant flowers.
drowse	Be sluggish or inactive. Any birds which the heat has not utterly drowsed.
drowsy	Sleepy and lethargic; half asleep. Made drowsy by the long ride.
effete	Affected, overrefined, and effeminate. Effete trendies from art college.
emaciated	Abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food. She was so emaciated she could hardly stand.
ennui	The feeling of being bored by something tedious. He succumbed to ennui and despair.
exhausted	Drained of energy or effectiveness extremely tired completely exhausted. The exhausted food sources.
fatigued	Drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted.
feeble	Lacking strength. Her feeble cries of pain.
flagging	A walk of flagstones. The flagging in the garden was quite imaginative.
frail	The weight of a frail basket full of raisins or figs between 50 and 75 pounds. The balcony is frail.
haggard	A haggard hawk. She was pale and haggard.
indolence	Inactivity resulting from a dislike of work. My failure is probably due to my own indolence.
irresistibly	In a way that is too powerful or convincing to be resisted. I am irresistibly reminded of the advice of a friend of mine.
jaded	Exhausted. Meals to tempt the most jaded appetites.
languid	(of a person, manner, or gesture) having or showing a disinclination for physical exertion or effort. His languid demeanour irritated her.
limp	A tendency to limp a gait impeded by injury or stiffness. He limped heavily as he moved.
listless	Lacking zest or vivacity. Bouts of listless depression.
pendulous	Hanging down loosely. Pendulous branches.
skeletal	Existing only in outline or as a framework of something. A nightmare population of gaunt men and skeletal boys.
sleepy	Ready to fall asleep. The one time sleepy world of pensions.
spent	Having no power or energy left. The movement has become a spent force.
tired	Bored or impatient with. Tired clich s like the information revolution.
weak	Relating to or denoting the weakest of the known kinds of force between particles which acts only at distances less than about 10 cm is very much weaker than the electromagnetic and the strong interactions and conserves neither strangeness parity nor isospin. A cup of weak coffee.
wearied	Exhausted.
weary	Be distressed; fret. The weary journey began again.