Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

gnash

UK/ˈnæʃ/US/ˈnæʃ/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,922 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: gnashing

To gnash is to grind your teeth together in anger or distress. A sound as much as an action.

The word appears almost entirely in one phrase, since gnashing of teeth is a biblical expression for extreme misery and has stayed in English ever since. Modern use is usually half-joking, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth means people complained a great deal. The g is silent. Grinding your teeth in your sleep is the medical version, and it has its own name, bruxism.

Definitions of gnash

  1. 1verbgnashTo grind the teeth together, especially in rage or anguish.C1

    “He gnashed his teeth at every mention of the name.”

Phrases it lives in

  • wailing and gnashing of teeth — loud complaint and distress, often said mockingly

Where it comes from

  1. Middle English

    gnasten

  2. English, today

    gnash

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, A Song of Ice and Fire

First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

gnash in the wild

  • In all Old Testament instances, except Psalms 112:10, the gnashing appears to be an act of persecution and not suffering.

    Weeping and gnashing of teeth

  • The phrase "gnash the teeth" is found in Acts 7:54, in the story of the stoning of Stephen.

    Weeping and gnashing of teeth

  • Garrett Charles Nash, known by his stage name Gnash (stylized as gnash; pronounced "nash"), is an American singer, rapper, DJ, and record producer.

    Gnash (musician)

  • Imad Has had a heavy hand in projects with gnash, Oliver Tree, MAX, Quinn XCII, JAWNY, Keshi, Rico Nasty.

    Imad Royal

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.