All words

gaunt

Meaning

Characterized by extreme thinness and a hollowed appearance, often due to illness, suffering, or starvation.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

He looked so gaunt, his skin stretched tight over his bones. After weeks with little food, his face was sunken, his eyes deep in their sockets. You could see the hunger had taken its toll.

The old fisherman's face was gaunt, his skin stretched tight over sharp bones. He hadn't eaten properly in weeks, only a few withered sea vegetables he'd scavenged. His eyes, deep sunken pits, held a desperate, empty look.

The lone, starved miner, his skin pulled tight over bone, emerged from the collapsed shaft. His face was so gaunt that the hollows under his eyes seemed to swallow the dim light, a stark testament to days without food or water.

The marathon runner looked so gaunt, you could see his ribs doing a little jig. He’d forgotten to eat for days, surviving on pure willpower and the faint scent of donuts. His face was hollowed like a sad, empty cookie jar.

The lone tumbleweed, a dusty, gaunt circle of scraggly branches, shivered on the scorching desert floor. It hadn't eaten a proper speck of sand in weeks, its normally plump form now alarmingly thin and hollowed, looking like it had lost a staring contest with a mirage.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

The survivor's eyes were wide with a desperate hunger, his face impossibly gaunt, a stark testament to the days he'd spent with no food. Every cheekbone jutted out, his skin stretched taut over a frame hollowed by the cruelties of his ordeal.

The prospector, after weeks lost in the high desert, stumbled into the trading post. His face was gaunt, the skin stretched tight over sharp bones, a stark testament to the meager rations and constant thirst. His eyes, sunken and feverish, scanned the room for any sign of salvation.

The prospector hadn't eaten in days. His face was gaunt, the skin pulled tight over sharp cheekbones, his eyes sunk deep in their sockets from the relentless desert sun and gnawing hunger. He barely had the strength to lift his canteen.

The marathon runner, looking utterly gaunt after his ordeal, could barely stand. He’d mistaken the “Hydration Station” for a free donut giveaway. Now, his skinny arms flailed wildly, begging for a glazed cruller, not water.

Bartholomew Buttercup, after a harrowing week surviving solely on artisanal sourdough starter, was a sight to behold. His cheeks, once plump with glee from cookie consumption, were now gaunt, resembling deflated whoopee cushions. He swore he could see his spleen attempting to escape.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

The rescued dog was gaunt, his ribs starkly visible beneath his matted fur. He hadn't eaten in days, his once bright eyes now sunken and dull from the prolonged suffering.

The miner, his face streaked with grime, looked utterly *gaunt*. Weeks underground, subsisting on meager rations and breathing dust, had hollowed his cheeks and leached the color from his skin, leaving him skeletal and weak.

The lone explorer, weeks lost in the crystalline caverns, gazed at his reflection in a slow-moving subterranean river. His face was gaunt, the skin stretched tight over his cheekbones, and his eyes seemed sunken, a stark testament to the dwindling rations and relentless, silent pressure of the deep.

The marathon runner, having forgotten to pack any provisions, appeared positively gaunt, his cheeks sunken like abandoned soufflés. He shuffled past, a walking anatomy lesson, his ribs performing a percussive solo against his shirt, a testament to his extreme thinness and hollowed appearance after days of nothing but inspiration.

Bartholomew, a man so gaunt his tailor charged him extra for the vacant space, attempted to knit himself a new face. His efforts, however, were largely ineffectual. The resultant woolen visage bore a disconcerting resemblance to a startled pigeon, its knitted beak perpetually agape.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

The refugee’s face was gaunt, a testament to the prolonged privation. His sunken eyes bore a haunted look, his skin stretched taut over prominent bones, each breath a fragile testament to his endurance. Starvation had etched its stark reality onto his very being.

The arduous expedition tested their reserves; after weeks subsisting on meager rations and enduring punishing conditions, their faces grew gaunt, hollowed by the unremitting privation. Each breath seemed an exertion, a testament to their profound physical depletion, their bodies ravaged by the relentless struggle.

The expedition's surveyor, once robust, now appeared unnervingly gaunt. Days without sustenance, the unforgiving arid expanse mirroring the hollowness in his sunken cheeks, evidenced his dire straits. His colleagues offered a meager ration, a futile gesture against his profound depletion.

Barnaby, perpetually famished from his audacious quest to subsist solely on artisanal cheese crumbs, had become so gaunt that his tailor fashioned his waistcoat from repurposed dryer lint. His skeletal visage, once the very archetype of convivial effervescence, now conveyed a profound, almost spectral, want.

The lone sourdough starter, a forgotten relic in the arctic laboratory, had become astonishingly gaunt. Its once bubbly enthusiasm had withered, leaving only a desiccated husk, a testament to the frigid neglect and profound lack of airborne yeast.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

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