How to Use grunt in a Sentence

grunt

1 of 2 verb
  • She grunted a few words in reply, then turned and walked away.
  • The workers were grunting with effort as they lifted the heavy furniture.
  • The man grunted, turned over the slop pail, and sat down to remove his boots.
    Lisa Wells, Harper’s Magazine , 15 Mar. 2023
  • The rest of the camels slid their necks between the pen bars and grunted merrily.
    Hillary Davis, Daily Pilot, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Ear to the wrist: blood must grunt all day or relax when no one listens.
    Jennifer Nelson Anne Boyer, New York Times, 22 June 2023
  • Stracke hung a tree stand in the buck’s wheelhouse, then grunted and rattled the giant in for a 5-yard shot.
    Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 1 Nov. 2023
  • The room was buzzing with dudes grunting over the clatter of metal on metal.
    Gray Chapman, SELF, 8 Sep. 2018
  • Think of the tempo, be aware of your breathing, watch yourself on screen and grunt in time with yourself.
    Nojan Aminosharei, Men's Health, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Also watch for a head thrown back, shaking of the head, grunting and snorting.
    Forrest Brown, CNN, 12 Apr. 2023
  • And grunting for her is her way of focusing and getting in the present and creating the flow and rhythm.
    Ravi Ubha, CNN, 30 May 2017
  • For six hours, the truck lurches and grunts its way back to civilization.
    Carl Fincke, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2020
  • The bears growl and grunt at each other while using their jaws and paws as weapons to batter each other.
    Sage Marshall, Field & Stream, 27 Feb. 2023
  • With only minutes of shooting light left, Stenger heard rustling, grunted a few times, and the buck came right to his tree.
    Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 4 Dec. 2019
  • Bev and Emily grunted their way up the truck’s narrow ramp, taking frequent breaks, and shoved the love seat against the truck’s wall.
    J. Robert Lennon, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019
  • His comedy is of the loud type, full of face mugging, pratfalls and even grunting.
    Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 7 July 2023
  • The gymnasts do not grunt with effort like the women who spin like a top and fling the hammer or discus far into the distance.
    Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2021
  • As Cal (a character created for the film), Mr. Fassbender gets to kick, punch and grunt with his shirt off a lot.
    Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2016
  • The grunting sound is what happens when breathing is resumed.
    Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Oct. 2023
  • Your caveman boyfriend grunts to alert the rest of your tribe to this incredible discovery.
    Lana Schwartz, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Non-verbal cues, like grunting to poop or pulling at their diaper.
    Jessica Booth, Parents, 23 June 2023
  • On the witness stand, Paltrow testified that Sanderson made lots of strange grunting noises at the time of the crash, which left her confused.
    Sara Netzley, EW.com, 25 Mar. 2023
  • In early 2005, Pruetz and her team identified Foudouko as the alpha male—the one male to which all others pant-grunted, a sign of submission.
    National Geographic, 30 Jan. 2017
  • In other words, the outcome of the game may be determined very early on in the match, leading the players to grunt accordingly.
    Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 13 July 2017
  • On that day, three minutes into the meeting the local lawnmowers will snarl, grunt and wail in unison right through your three-hour meeting. Write to me.
    Maria Shine Stewart, cleveland, 7 Sep. 2020
  • And so ensues much punching and grunting and kicking and gouging and shooting, and shooting, and shooting.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2023
  • The spot was in a hardwood bottom with plenty of oak trees dropping acorns, and Rickey blind grunted and rattled to try and draw the enormous buck into gun range.
    Outdoor Life, 8 Nov. 2023
  • Older, wiser, and accompanied by his son, Kratos now slaughters and grunts his way through draugr, ogre, and valkyrie.
    Popular Science, 13 Apr. 2020
  • While Modell spoke, Groza stood behind the couch, eating a sandwich and grunting his disapproval.
    Tim Sullivan, The Courier-Journal, 9 Sep. 2017
  • Anyway, for all that ails tennis, grunting never much bothered me.
    Jon Wertheim, SI.com, 4 Oct. 2017
  • When Ward bent down to tie Baker's shoes, the drummer grunted and bellowed like a wounded water buffalo.
    Gogo Lidz, Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2013
Advertisement

grunt

2 of 2 noun
  • I could hear the grunts of the movers as they lifted the heavy furniture.
  • He answered her with a grunt.
  • He's just a grunt in the attorney's office.
  • He was a grunt who worked his way up to become an officer.
  • The grunt of a bull moose rolled sonorously through the pines.
    Outdoor Life, 28 Aug. 2020
  • The woman gave a grunt and clicked her tongue and the dog slunk back to her.
    Lauren Groff, The New Yorker, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Ten hours to Charlotte to work, help teams, do the grunt jobs.
    Dana Hunsinger Benbow, Indianapolis Star, 19 Feb. 2020
  • There simply isn’t the grunt there to get the most out of an action movie.
    Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 4 May 2022
  • The only sounds left for the night were the grunts of work going into the heavy bag.
    Tyler R. Tynes, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2023
  • That's enough grunt to scoot the pricier Plaid to 60 mph in 2.1 seconds.
    Scott Oldham, Car and Driver, 13 Jan. 2023
  • What’s more, the 928 packed a ton of grunt, which was perfect for what the car needed to do on the big screen.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 21 July 2021
  • The noises from above were atrocious: blasts of fire, grunts of pain, shrieks of rage.
    cleveland, 19 Nov. 2019
  • Of course, Ferrari’s first badged V-6 is by no means short on grunt.
    Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 21 Jan. 2022
  • And then, with a grunt heard ‘round the park, the Marine veteran whacks the ball to deep left field.
    Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2020
  • The crack of a rifle, the grunt of a polar bear, the spout of an orca, the bone-on-bone clash of narwhal tusks.
    Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2021
  • Matthew doesn’t speak but can grimace, shrug, grunt, nod, or frown.
    Weike Wang, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
  • The mill’s prodigious low-end grunt shows up with even the slightest touch of throttle.
    Michael Van Runkle, Robb Report, 7 June 2022
  • After 15 minutes, at around 11 p.m., Black heard through the phone a grunt, a thud and then silence.
    Moe Clark, ProPublica, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Even so, once the tachometer needle swung past the 2500 rpm mark, the M Coupe shored up enough grunt to come into its own.
    Caleb Miller, Car and Driver, 15 Mar. 2023
  • There’s the churning of sediment, the hums, grunts and growls of fishes and turtles.
    Shreya Dasgupta, Quartz India, 21 Nov. 2019
  • Their distinctive calls are a mixture of barks, growls and grunts.
    Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Nov. 2023
  • And there's no additional grunt to be had in the F Sport model.
    Connor Hoffman, Car and Driver, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Whales sing, toadfish hum, cod grunt, and bearded seals trill.
    Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 13 June 2022
  • Aatami merely looks at them, points his pickax like the Grim Reaper with his scythe and grunts.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 24 Apr. 2023
  • If a squirrel starts barking, a blue jay squawks, or a crow starts fussing, throw a grunt that way.
    The Editors, Outdoor Life, 2 Nov. 2020
  • Even on a clean bench with a spotless bar, the bench-presser exhales clouds of grunt with every up-push.
    Richard Brookhiser, National Review, 20 Aug. 2020
  • These tools liberate programmers from a lot of grunt work, but can add heft to a project.
    Klint Finley, Wired, 4 Apr. 2020
  • Brito shot video from the roof overlooking the ring, close enough to document every smack and grunt.
    New York Times, 2 Sep. 2021
  • These tics may be vocal, such as a simple sound like a grunt or moan, or more complex, like a word or phrase.
    Dr. Keith Roach, oregonlive, 31 May 2021
  • Their dad pitched in to handle some necessary grunt work.
    Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 22 May 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'grunt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: