gnaw at

phrasal verb

gnawed at; gnawing at; gnaws at

: to be a source of worry or concern to (someone)

This problem has been gnawing at me day and night.

She says she's fine, but I can see that something is gnawing at her.

Examples of gnaw at in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Walgreens, like other competitors such as Rite Aid and CVS, is not alone in its efforts to navigate an unfavorable consumer environment that has gnawed at pharmacy margins as shoppers wrestle with pesky inflation. —

Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 5 July 2024 The case gnawed at him and other investigators for years. —

Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 27 June 2024 As Horton Sheff sat and took notes, a statistic gnawed at her conscience — 74% of Hartford eighth-graders could not read on grade level. —

Alison Cross, Hartford Courant, 17 June 2024 Fellow chainsaw artist Evelyn Mogren has also been working to carve a wooden tableau of nature, featuring two bears playing, a beaver gnawing at a tree stump, and a fox chasing a rabbit for the town. —

Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 22 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for gnaw at

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