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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gnash.

To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈnæʃ/
  1. To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger.

    transitive
    gnashing your teeth
  2. To grind between the teeth.

    transitive
    to gnash the air in fury
    The dog was gnashing a carpet
  3. To clash together violently.

    figuratively
  4. To run away.

    Geordie
Where this word comes from

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or ultimately onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”), all of onomatopoeic origin.

noun/ˈnæʃ/
  1. A sudden snapping of the teeth.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or ultimately onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”), all of onomatopoeic origin.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.